tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72582868772400499292017-09-07T15:40:11.403-07:00ZONE FOR ALL UPDATES ACROSS THE GLOBEentertainment,health,wealth,business,weather,sports,politics,news,crime,law,liberty,freedom,social workJunia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.comBlogger206125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-58968334253172089802013-06-17T01:00:00.001-07:002013-06-17T01:00:12.024-07:00BJP calls for Bihar bandhToday<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h1 class="detail-title" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">BJP calls for Bihar bandh tomorrow</span></h1><h1 class="detail-title"><span style="color: #38761d;">&nbsp;</span></h1><h1 class="detail-title"><span style="color: #38761d;"><img alt="BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi addresses a press conference in Patna on Sunday. Also present are Bihar BJP president Mangal Pandey (left) and party leader Nand Kishore Yadav. Photo: Ranjeet Kumar" class="main-image" src="http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01489/17TH_SUSHIL_MODI_1489085f.jpg" title="BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi addresses a press conference in Patna on Sunday. Also present are Bihar BJP president Mangal Pandey (left) and party leader Nand Kishore Yadav. Photo: Ranjeet Kumar" />&nbsp;</span></h1><div class="articleLead"><h2><span style="color: #38761d;">Nitish must resign as NDA leader before trust vote</span></h2></div><b><span style="color: #38761d;"></span></b><div class="body"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">Smarting under an acrimonious split, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday called for a Bihar bandh on June 18, day before Chief Minister Nitish Kumar faces a floor test in the State Assembly. It also called upon Mr. Kumar to resign and get re-elected as the leader of the party before the vote of confidence. </span></b></div><b><span style="color: #38761d;"></span></b><div class="body"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">“Today is a black day in Bihar’s politics. The JD (U) betrayed a 17-year-old alliance. The people of Bihar gave heavy majority to the National Democratic Alliance, which the JD (U) axed in one stroke. What happened is unfortunate and the people of Bihar will avenge this insult of their mandate,” Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi told a press conference here. </span></b></div><b><span style="color: #38761d;"></span></b><div class="body"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">He said June 18 would be observed as “a day of betrayal” when the BJP would protest against the JD (U) for duping the people of Bihar. </span></b></div><b><span style="color: #38761d;"></span></b><div class="body"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">The BJP leader said the opposition to Narendra Modi was the result of fear of backward caste assertion. “There are some who fear that for a first time an individual is emerging who is not from dynastic politics, who hails from a humble background and is from the backward class.” </span></b></div><b><span style="color: #38761d;"></span></b><div class="body"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">Politics of convenience </span></b></div><b><span style="color: #38761d;"></span></b><div class="body"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">The JD (U) played “politics of convenience” with the BJP. “How can you say one is communal, but the other is secular? Those termed communal today will be deemed secular tomorrow. The Left too formed a government with us. So for the sake of convenience we are secular and when our use is over we become communal. There has been no riot in Gujarat for the last ten years, whereas Congress-ruled States have seen several riots,” Mr. Sushil Kumar Modi said. </span></b></div><b><span style="color: #38761d;"></span></b><div class="body"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">“The Lok Sabha poll is one year away. No party has declared its candidate. Plus, the JD (U) itself said Mr. Narendra Modi’s elevation was an internal matter. Then what happened in the part five days that this coalition was broken? No party has the right to dictate terms to the other,” he said. </span></b></div><b><span style="color: #38761d;"></span></b><div class="body"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">“The BJP wants to focus all its energies on the coming Lok Sabha elections and has no intention of staking claim to power. We are not demanding a fresh mandate. We don’t want an election just two and a half years into this term. Moreover, with 91 MLAs we don’t have the numerical strength,” he said. </span></b></div><b><span style="color: #38761d;"></span></b><div class="body"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">On skipping the Cabinet meeting, Mr. Sushil Modi said there was no point in attending it when the survival of the ruling government itself was under question and the Chief Minister himself was talking in riddles. </span></b></div><b><span style="color: #38761d;"></span></b><div class="body"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">He said the BJP “stayed loyal to the coalition dharma” and helped the government make crucial decisions. The BJP expected Mr. Kumar, who was chosen as the NDA leader, to resign and get elected as the chosen leader of JD (U) before forming a government. </span></b></div><b><span style="color: #38761d;"></span></b><div class="body"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">Supporters of both parties celebrated the decision by bursting crackers and staging support marches in the city. They raised slogans hailing Mr. Nitish Kumar and Mr. Narendra Modi. </span></b></div><b><span style="color: #38761d;"></span></b><div class="body"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">It’s for votes: Lalu</span></b></div><b><span style="color: #38761d;"></span></b><div class="body"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">Meanwhile, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad called the JD (U)’s move “politics of opportunism.” He said Mr. Kumar was eyeing the Muslim vote bank and intended to get back to the BJP fold after the polls. “His main agenda is to cheat the Muslim voters,” he said. </span></b></div><b><span style="color: #38761d;"> “The result of arrogance is the end of a political era. Both parties have deceived the people of Bihar. They came together to keep me out of power. They whipped up Lalu-phobia by maligning my reign as jungle raj,” Mr. Prasad said</span></b><h1 class="detail-title"><span style="color: #38761d;">&nbsp;</span></h1></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-31809061685712232992013-05-13T21:15:00.000-07:002013-05-13T21:15:21.089-07:00Venezuela launches massive street security operation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b><br /></b><h1 class="story-header"><span style="color: #783f04;">Venezuela launches massive street security operation</span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S-hCShFl-4Y/UZG6F-ArJpI/AAAAAAAABrE/AAMBDQ8JHtk/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><img border="0" height="225" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S-hCShFl-4Y/UZG6F-ArJpI/AAAAAAAABrE/AAMBDQ8JHtk/s400/2.jpg" width="400" /></b></a></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has launched a massive security plan aimed at curbing street crime. </span></b></div><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Under operation "Safe Homeland", 3,000 soldiers will patrol the streets of the capital Caracas and other cities. </span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">President Maduro said the plan would bring peace to Venezuela, which has one of the highest homicide rates in South America. </span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">The opposition has long criticised the government's record on crime, and used it as a campaign issue in recent polls.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">The government says more than 16,000 people were killed in crimes in 2012, a rate of 54 per 100,000.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">However the Venezuela Violence Observatory, a campaign group, put last year's murder rate much higher - at 73 per 100,000 people.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who is contesting Mr Maduro's narrow victory in last month's presidential election, highlighted crime rates during the campaign.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Under the operation Safe Homeland soldiers will patrol the country's 79 most crime ridden areas - including four in Caracas.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Speaking on Monday, Mr Maduro said his government was "revising every aspect to build a peaceful country."</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Last year, the government introduced a new gun law banning the sale of firearms and ammunition. </span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Crime figures have been rising steadily since the late president Hugo Chavez took office in 1999</span></b></div></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-4659919320050240942013-05-13T21:03:00.000-07:002013-05-13T21:10:11.398-07:00Bangladesh textile factories shut amid unrest<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h1 class="story-header"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #990000;">Bangladesh textile factories shut amid unrest</span></span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C9rYsfvEpkI/UZG2lvU9VSI/AAAAAAAABq4/YTFEL0HxE60/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-C9rYsfvEpkI/UZG2lvU9VSI/AAAAAAAABq4/YTFEL0HxE60/s400/1.jpg" width="400" /></span><b></b></a></div><div><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="width: 464px;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Garment workers have increased their demands for higher wages in Bangladesh</span></b></span></div><div><span style="width: 464px;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div><span style="width: 464px;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div><span style="width: 464px;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></b></span><br /><div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1"><span style="width: 464px;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">Many Bangladeshi textile factories near the capital, Dhaka, have shut because of unrest sparked by the collapse of a factory building last month, the country's textile association says.</span></span></b></span></div><span style="width: 464px;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">Owners made the decision on safety grounds after many workers went on a rampage, the group's president said.</span><br /> <span style="color: #6aa84f;">The government says it will lift trade union restrictions amid pressure to improve workers' conditions.</span><br /> <span style="color: #6aa84f;">At least 1,127 bodies have been recovered from the Rana Plaza building. </span><br /> <span style="color: #6aa84f;">Officials say the rescue operation is drawing to a close, with the military expected to hand over the site to the district administration on Tuesday.</span><br /> <span style="color: #6aa84f;">"The possibility of getting more bodies is thin," said Brigadier General Mohammad Siddiqul Alam Shikder.</span><br /> <span style="color: #6aa84f;">The Rana Plaza in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, housed a number of textile factories, some of which were supplying Western retailers.</span><br /> <span style="color: #6aa84f;">Its collapse on 24 April is the latest in a series of deadly incidents focusing global attention on safety standards in Bangladesh's textile industry.</span><br /> <span style="color: #6aa84f;"><span class="cross-head">'Beatings and harassment'</span> </span><span style="color: #6aa84f;">One report said as many as 300 factories had closed in the Ashulia industrial area near Dhaka.</span><br /> <span style="color: #6aa84f;">"Owners decided to close their factories on safety grounds after workers went on a rampage almost every day after the collapse of Rana Plaza," Mohammad Atiqul Islam, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said on Monday.</span><br /> <span style="color: #6aa84f;">Workers in 80% of the factories in Ashulia staged a walkout demanding a salary increase, as well as the execution of the owner of the Rana Plaza, local police chief Badrul Ala said.</span><br /> <span style="color: #6aa84f;">Police say tensions have been further inflamed by the discovery of a body of a female worker in Ashulia on Sunday.</span><br /> <span style="color: #6aa84f;">Thousands of workers took to the streets and vandalised vehicles and shops before being dispersed by police, a police officer told the Associated Press news agency.</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><br /></span><span style="color: #6aa84f;">On Monday, the government agreed to allow garment workers to form trade unions without permission from factory owners.</span><br /> <img alt="Reshma, last survivor pulled from the rubble of the Rana Plaza complex taken on 13 May" height="360" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/67578000/jpg/_67578868_resh,a.jpg" width="640" /><br /></span></b></span><br /><div class="caption body-narrow-width"><span style="width: 464px;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">&nbsp; <span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="width: 304px;">Reshma was the last person to be rescued from the Rana Plaza building, 17 days after it collapsed</span> </span></span></b></span></div><span style="width: 464px;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #b45f06;">The government amended the 2006 Labour Act lifting restrictions on forming trade unions in most industries, spokesman Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said.</span><br /> <span style="color: #b45f06;">"The government is doing it for the welfare of the workers," Mr Bhuiyan told reporters. </span><br /> <span style="color: #b45f06;">This comes a day after the government created a new panel of union representatives and factory workers to raise the minimum wage for garment workers. </span><br /> <span style="color: #b45f06;">However, trade union leaders have responded cautiously to the changes.</span><br /> <span style="color: #b45f06;">"The issue is not really about making a new law or amending the old one,'' Kalpana Akter of the Bangladesh Centre for Workers Solidarity told the Associated Press news agency.</span><br /> <span style="color: #b45f06;">"In the past whenever workers tried to form associations they were subjected to beatings and harassment.''</span><br /> <span style="color: #b45f06;"><span class="cross-head">'Epidemic of disasters'</span> </span><span style="color: #b45f06;">Bangladesh has one of the largest garment industries in the world.</span><br /> <span style="color: #b45f06;">Last Wednesday, 18 garment factories were shut down for safety reasons, amid growing concerns about industrial safety across the country.</span><br /> <span style="color: #b45f06;">Four major Western retailers, H&amp;M, C&amp;A, Britain's Primark Stores and the owner of the Zara chain, Inditex, said on Monday they will back an International Labour Organisation-led agreement on fire and building safety that has been under negotiation since the factory collapsed on 24 April.</span><br /> <span style="color: #b45f06;">The contract would require them to conduct safety inspections, pay for repairs and stop doing business with any factory that refuses to make necessary safety improvements.</span><br /> <span style="color: #b45f06;">"This agreement is exactly what is needed to finally bring an end to the epidemic of fire and building disasters that have taken so many lives in the garment industry in Bangladesh,'' the executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, Scott Nova, said.&nbsp;</span></span></b></span></div></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-36855161036881431852013-05-01T01:44:00.000-07:002013-05-01T01:44:53.069-07:00Cape Coral council votes to raise tax after lengthy debate<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h1 style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px;"><span style="color: #ffd966;">Cape Coral council votes to raise tax after lengthy debate</span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4PuDW1pKtYc/UYDTbegdWbI/AAAAAAAABps/3zhlwhu3xFQ/s1600/2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="386" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4PuDW1pKtYc/UYDTbegdWbI/AAAAAAAABps/3zhlwhu3xFQ/s640/2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">When it came to the public service tax, residents’ responses bounced back and forth like a game of table tennis. A happy medium was found to the tune of 7 percent rather than the full 10.</span></b></div><h3 style="color: #2c2c2c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 5px;">-</h3><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">Poll:&nbsp;What do you think of the council's decision to raise the public service tax?</span></b></div><h3 style="color: #2c2c2c; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 5px;">-</h3><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">In the end, council members voted as some expected. It was 6-2 in favor of the tax with Mayor John Sullivan and Councilman Chris Chulakes-Leetz dissenting. This adjustment increases the fire services assessment to 70 percent from 60 to try and recoup the 3 percent from the service tax. Council will receive more data on the second part of this revenue diversification effort in June. The final budget for the next fiscal year will be adopted in September.</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">A diverse group spoke before Cape Coral City Council on Monday night: parents, business owners, retirees, full-time and part-time homeowners, and renters.</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">Councilman Lenny Nesta motioned to shorten public comment time. It passed with a 5-3 vote, Mayor John Sullivan, Councilman Chris Chulakes-Leetz and Councilman Kevin McGrail dissented.</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">“If it takes longer than three to five minutes for residents to communicate, their position should not be shut out,” Chulakes-Leetz said. “I’m willing to be here until wee hours of the morning to hear everyone we work for.”</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">The night still went long with people lining up to speak at the podium.</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">“It’s a lot of emotion, and I understand the issue about taxes,” said Councilman Derrick Donnell, who felt the tax should remain at 10 percent. “When we finish talking and yelling about it ... this really is not a hard decision for me at all. You understand my vote to support this has come over years (of research).”</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">By 4:30 p.m. when the meeting began, it was standing room only inside council chambers. The masses were raring to begin but had to abide by the city’s agenda. They waited through two presentations by City Manager John Szerlag and Consultant Michael Burton on the issues and a 20-minute break.</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">The public service tax is part one of what many are calling a “three-legged stool” needed to balance the budget. The service tax is 7 percent of a household’s average monthly electric bill. The ordinance excludes the first 500 kilowatt hours. The exemption does not apply to commercial properties. The goal is to reach $20 million in additional revenue.</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">There are unknown variables such as the monthly use of electricity of home and business.</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">City officials have promised to drop the millage rate by $1 per 1,000 of taxable value. In 2008, Szerlag said the city had a $149 million budget. In 2013, it has $116 million. He said it’s time to catch-up and diversify revenue so the city can once again put money toward capital projects and economic sustainability. Council is committed to an overall average cost of $150 per household, a number many in the crowd were skeptical of. Cape Coral and Palm Coast are the only two of 41 cities in the state of Florida with a population over 50,000 who lack a public service tax.</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">More than one laugh was heard from the crowd when Burton noted that a “typical residential electric user has a total monthly bill of $145.15 based on usage of 1,200 kWh.” He attributed that average to LCEC reports. Financial Services Director Victoria Bateman encouraged residents to go online to capecoral.net to estimate their taxes and check the formula city staff used.</span></b></div><div style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">During public comments, some accused council of not cutting enough, of overspending or exaggerating the consequences with a “sky is falling” approach. They called potential layoffs and loss of services, such as parks and recreation, scare tactics. Councilman Kevin McGrail made the suggestion to lower the service tax slightly to help small business owners and put more responsibility on vacant lot owners.</span></b></div></div><br /></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-398022990023943512013-04-24T01:52:00.002-07:002013-04-24T02:06:31.759-07:00Deadly clashes in China's Xinjiang<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h1 class="story-header"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">Deadly clashes in China's Xinjiang</span></h1><div><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8Xm53X4NHRk/UXec1MtwmHI/AAAAAAAABoM/kB1aw_bv5IY/s1600/2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8Xm53X4NHRk/UXec1MtwmHI/AAAAAAAABoM/kB1aw_bv5IY/s640/2.gif" width="587" /></a></div><div><span style="color: #6aa84f;"><br /></span></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Clashes in China's restive Xinjiang region have left 21 people dead, including 15 police and officials, the local government says.</span></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><span style="color: #073763;">The incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon in Bachu county, Kashgar, a statement on the official Xinjiang government website said.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #073763;">It began when officials searched homes for weapons, it said. Six "gang members" were among the dead, it said. </span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #073763;">There have been sporadic clashes in Xinjiang in recent years. </span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #073763;">The incidents come amid rumbling ethnic tensions between the Muslim Uighur and Han Chinese communities. In 2009 almost 200 people - mostly Han Chinese - were killed after deadly rioting erupted. </span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #073763;">It is very difficult to verify reports from<a href="http://jameskannuri.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"> Xinjiang</a>, reports the BBC's Celia Hatton. Foreign journalists are allowed to travel to the region but frequently face intimidation and harassment when attempting to verify news of ethnic rioting or organised violence against government authorities. </span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #660000;">China's propaganda departments have also warned domestic news outlets against conducting their own independent reporting on sensitive Xinjiang stories, ordering them to reprint official stories from China's major state news agencies, our correspondent adds. </span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #660000;"><span class="cross-head">'Terrorism'</span> </span></b><b><span style="color: #660000;">According to the statement, the clash was sparked as officials described as community workers searched homes for weapons and were then taken hostage.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #660000;">Eight other "gang members" were captured, it said, describing the incident as linked to terrorism.</span></b><br /><b><br /></b><b>&nbsp;<span style="color: #b45f06;">There was no information on the identity of the assailants. Ten of the officials and police killed were ethnic <a href="http://topnewsscan.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Uighurs</a>, it said.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Uighurs make up about 45% of the region's population, but say an influx of Han Chinese residents has marginalised their traditional culture. </span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Beijing authorities often blame violent incidents in Xinjiang on Uighur extremists seeking autonomy for the region. Uighur activists, meanwhile, accuse Beijing of over-exaggerating the threat to justify heavy-handed rule. </span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #b45f06;">In August 2012, 20 people were jailed on terrorism and separatism charges in the region.&nbsp;</span></b></div><br /></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-10305316320666367082013-04-24T01:42:00.000-07:002013-04-24T02:05:43.967-07:00Bangladesh Dhaka building collapse leaves 70 dead<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h1 class="story-header"><span style="color: #990000;">Bangladesh Dhaka building collapse leaves 70 dead</span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7mUNEATFOYM/UXeaIxbrDGI/AAAAAAAABn8/wK4b9ibHbNc/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><img border="0" height="360" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7mUNEATFOYM/UXeaIxbrDGI/AAAAAAAABn8/wK4b9ibHbNc/s640/1.jpg" width="640" /></b></a></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1"><b><span style="color: #bf9000;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1"><b><span style="color: #bf9000;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1"><span style="width: 464px;"><b>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Officials have warned that the death toll from the collapse could rise</b></span></div><div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1"><span style="width: 464px;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1"><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">At least 70 people have been killed and many more are feared trapped after an eight-storey building collapsed in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, government officials say. </span></b></div><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">Frantic efforts are under way to rescue those beneath the debris. At least 200 were injured by the collapse.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">The army is helping with the rescue operation on the outskirts of Dhaka.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">Building collapses are common in Bangladesh where many multi-storey blocks are built in violation of rules. </span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">The eight-storey building contained a clothing factory, a bank and several other shops. It collapsed during the morning rush hour. </span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">Many people have gathered near the scene looking for friends and relatives. </span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">The BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan, in Dhaka, says that it is not yet clear what caused the collapse but local media reports said a crack was detected in the block on Tuesday. </span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">Local police chief Mohammad Asaduzzaman told the Reuters news agency that factory owners appeared to have ignored a warning not to allow their workers into the building after the crack was detected.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">Police told local media that the rear of the building suddenly started to collapse on Wednesday morning and within a short time the whole structure - except the main pillar and parts of the front wall - had caved-in, triggering panic.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">Only the ground floor of the Rana Plaza in Sava remained intact after the collapse, officials said, as army and fire service rescuers equipped with concrete cutters and cranes dug through rubble to pull out trapped people. Many onlookers also joined the effort using their bare hands.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">Survivors have described their terror as the collapse began.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">"I was in the cutting section of the garment factory and suddenly we heard a huge noise and the building collapsed within a few minutes," a garment worker told private Somoy TV.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">"I removed the rubble and came out with two other workers. But at least 30 other workers in my cutting section were still unaccounted for," he said.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">In November, a fire at a garment factory in a Dhaka suburb killed at least 110 people and triggered a public outcry about safety standards in the industry.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">The last major building collapse was in 2010, when a four-storey building collapsed in Dhaka killing at least 25 people and injuring several others. </span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">Bangladesh has one of the largest garment industries in the world, providing competitively priced clothes for major Western retailers which benefit from its widespread low-cost labour.</span></b></div></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-31222098378862959512013-04-18T01:22:00.000-07:002013-04-18T01:22:31.769-07:00Andy Carroll played down his challenge on Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h1 class="v5-art-hdl main-headline" style="background-color: white; margin: -5px 0px 5px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Andy Carroll played down his challenge on Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea</span></h1><div><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jD-gxzQhL38/UW-spg_RzLI/AAAAAAAABnI/SPKdpjIEc5Q/s1600/1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="310" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jD-gxzQhL38/UW-spg_RzLI/AAAAAAAABnI/SPKdpjIEc5Q/s640/1.JPG" width="640" /></span></b></a></div><div><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div><div class="v5-txt-strong" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em !important; margin-bottom: 1.4em; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Andy Carroll played down his clash with Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea which infuriated Sir Alex Ferguson.</span></b></div></div><div><div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.4em; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ferguson felt Carroll deserved a red card for his robust aerial challenge on De Gea from a West Ham corner right on the stroke of half-time.</span></b></div><div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.4em; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Carroll escaped punishment for the foul on De Gea and the big striker insists there was nothing he could to stop himself colliding with the keeper as he challenged for the ball.</span></b></div><div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.4em; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"I just went for the ball and obviously went through De Gea, but I just went for the ball and that's all it was," Carroll told Sky Sports 2</span></b></div><div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.4em; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"I was running straight in trying to get the ball and couldn't stop at that moment, obviously the keeper has come and won it and I couldn't stop when I was flying through the air."</span></b></div><div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.4em; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Carroll had a running battle with the United defence and also clashed with England team-mate Wayne Rooney in the build-up to the De Gea clash and he admitted he enjoyed the physical challenges in the game.</span></b></div><div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.4em; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"It was great, a tough battle, I enjoyed every minute and getting stuck in, getting a few elbows and giving a few. It's all part of the game," added Carroll.</span></b></div><div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.4em; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On his clash with Rooney he added: "It was a bit of friendly banter with me and Wazza,</span></b></div><div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.4em; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Carroll admits he has enjoyed his loan spell at West Ham from Liverpool, but remains unsure where his long-term future lies this summer.</span></b></div><div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.4em; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"I've loved every minute and the lads have been great, the fans have been excellent and I am just carrying on going until the end of the season," continued Carroll.</span></b></div><div style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.4em; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"We will just have to wait and see what happens."</span></b></div></div></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-84087602211136453672013-04-17T08:52:00.000-07:002013-04-17T08:52:35.414-07:00The Politics of Apology: Hollande and Algeria<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h1 class="title" id="page-title"><span style="color: #bf9000;">The Politics of Apology: Hollande and Algeria</span></h1><h1 class="title" id="page-title">&nbsp;<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bv-MmqgUzLM/UW7EqkCj_aI/AAAAAAAABm4/iZmafrmZFxs/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="468" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bv-MmqgUzLM/UW7EqkCj_aI/AAAAAAAABm4/iZmafrmZFxs/s640/1.jpg" width="624" /></a></div></h1><h1 class="title" id="page-title"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="dropcap">W</span>hen newly elected French President François Hollande squarely denounced the brutality and injustice of the whole era of French colonialism before the Algerian Parliament on December 20, 2012, he created headlines on both shores of the Mediterranean. Some found in Hollande’s words vindication for the evil of European imperialism, while others saw an indiscriminate betrayal of French and Western civilizing values. That was the result Hollande intended. The polarization he created bolstered both the French and Algerian governments in trying times.</span></span></h1><h1 class="title" id="page-title"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></h1><b>The history of the two countries has always been inflammatory. Paris forced itself on Algiers in 1830 with a quasi-genocide and left it in 1962 amid a shocking outburst of torture, terrorism, and ethnic cleansing that outdid the occasional massacres and unending discrimination of the long years of colonial occupation. France and Algeria went their own ways but never quite consummated the divorce. Algeria was not a colony but a province of France and motherland for more than a million <em>pieds-noirs</em> (i.e., non-Muslims with Algerian roots and French citizenship). The autocratic government that took over in Algiers squandered opportunities to develop the now independent country, leaving citizens to contemplate the long decay of French-era infrastructure and to dream about what life would be like in France. Droves of “Algerian” (i.e., Muslim) laborers followed the <em>pieds-noirs</em> in their exile across the <em>mare nostrum</em>, creating an immigrant community that, several generations later, amounts today to as many as two million people settled in France.</b><br /><b></b><b>Algerians are as integral a part of France’s social reality as the idea of France is to the Algerian imagination. The Franco-Algerian relationship, filled with acrimony and longing, is too intimate and complicated to yield to an easy repair. The long and brutal war of independence (1954–1962) was a terrible civil conflict, with cruelty and bitterness on both sides, leaving no appetite for prolonged introspection. The generation of Algerians that had won independence never questioned the excesses of violence they had employed, and until now it never occurred to French officials to express even token regrets for the principle of colonialism. Studiously oblivious toward the past, both governments have traded with each other and argued elliptically over issues such as the terms of nationalization of oil production and the treatment of Algerian immigrants in France. In recent decades, Paris and Algiers have found common cause against Islamists, working together to contain the threat they pose to both governments.</b><br /><br /><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span class="dropcap">T</span>he script changed a few months into the presidency of François Hollande, who surprised observers used to the conspiracy of silence practiced by both countries with a public speech marking the anniversary of a massacre of peaceful Algerian protesters in Paris on October 17, 1961. That summer, the Algerian independence movement had brought war to the French capital with a bombing campaign, and the police had brutally enforced a curfew on Algerians, building up to the October massacre. Hollande was the first high-ranking official to own up to the tragedy, unnerving the French right. Two months later, he doubled down with his apologetic speech to the Algerian Parliament. It was a transformative moment for the French republic; it was also an opportunistic </span><br />political maneuver.</b><br /><b></b><span style="color: #4c1130;"><b>Back in the 1950s, the French left, Hollande’s ideological cradle, was defined by its fierce opposition to imperialism. But since then the issue of colonialism has dimmed, becoming a historical curiosity for most Frenchmen, especially the large numbers born after 1962. But with his anti-colonial statement calling up this prior age, Hollande was seeking to anchor his presidency in a solid leftist tradition. Unable to carry out the redistributive measures promised in his campaign, he wanted to use the speech to reorient the nation’s focus. All the better that the right censures him as unpatriotic. The large community of young people of Algerian and “colonial” heritage in France may not receive jobs from Hollande, but his speech bolstered their self-esteem and gave pride through righteous victimhood.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #274e13;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #274e13;"><b>Hollande’s speech was well received in Algiers. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the Algerian president, is an ailing autocrat whose succession is uncertain at a time when one Arab dictatorship after another is falling into the hands of Islamists. By the early 1990s, after years of single-party rule, those who had led the struggle for Algerian independence had lost popular support to an Islamist opposition. The army, led by those who had once fought for independence, had responded with unrestrained brutality, and one hundred thousand people had died during a few tumultuous years of conflict with the Islamists. Bouteflika, a middling bureaucrat known for corruption, was put in power as that conflict was ended by the security state. Some hoped he would democratize and develop Algeria, but instead he perpetuated what had become a deadening status quo. When the Arab Spring stirred the region in 2011, Algeria had been under a draconian state of emergency for nineteen years and under Bouteflika’s presidency for twelve. History stayed suspended, inhibited by the bloodbaths of the 1990s.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #274e13;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #274e13;"><b>But Algeria has remained tense during the ambiguous blossoming of the Arab Spring. Islamists lurk at the edges of the nation’s politics, waiting for an opening. Not surprisingly, Algiers’ calls for France to apologize for colonialism had grown stronger as the domestic legitimacy of the regime shrank. It was already more than forty years since the liquidation of Algérie Française when Franco-Algerian relations stumbled over the issue, during the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, Hollande’s predecessor. In an act of reconciliation, Sarkozy paid up the pensions to Algerian veterans who fought for the French army. Bouteflika and others of his nation’s old guard wanted more; they wanted to resuscitate, if only for a day, the glory of their war of independence, and to take a page from the Islamists’ “victimized nativism” handbook. Hollande indulged them with his <em>mea culpa</em> in Algiers. Bouteflika knew not to push his luck: there are no demands for reparations. However, Hollande brought another gift: during the same visit, it was announced that Renault, the French car maker, would build a factory in Algiers, a one-billion-euro investment in a joint venture with the Algerian government. At a time when France’s automobile industry is shedding jobs and market shares, and when trade unions are screaming bloody murder about outsourcing, this initiative had domestic consequences for Hollande.</b></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #274e13;"><b>The North African darling for French industrialists has actually been Morocco—Renault is building a much larger factory there. Algeria is a bigger market, and Tunisians are more skilled, but seventy percent of French investments in North Africa go to the small kingdom on the Atlantic. The Moroccan workforce may be less educated, but it is more reliable. The Moroccan monarch, who claims religious credentials as “commander of the faithful,” is reasonably liked by his people and knows how to keep Islamists and socialists in check. Rabat, Paris, and Algiers must be watching with dread and a pang of satisfaction as Tunisia, the North African country closest to an economic takeoff, now run by a democratically elected Islamist government, descends into hell because of endemic social strife. Both Hollande and Bouteflika are men of the left, and in times of an ascending Muslim Brotherhood, they see an anticolonial diatribe as a way of anchoring themselves against the political headwinds Islamism has generated.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #274e13;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #274e13;"><b>Hollande’s Algiers moment should also be read in the context of France’s Arab policy. Nicolas Sarkozy had Roman dreams of associating the economies of the European Union with those of North Africa and the Levant. When those plans were shelved because of the Arab Spring and the accession of Islamists to power in Egypt and Tunisia, France worked hard to remain relevant during the political transition. It led the NATO mission to overthrow Muammar Qaddafi, evacuated its combat troops from Afghanistan ahead of schedule, and went furthest of all Western powers in supporting Syrian rebels. France also aligned its interests with those of wealthy Qatar, the godmother of the Syrian rebellion, and by far the Arab country with the most ambitious foreign policy. Not coincidentally, Qatar started to make large investments in France.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #274e13;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #274e13;"><b>Mere days after the December anticolonial shocker in Algiers, Hollande authorized a signature <em>neo</em>colonial mission: the military rescue of an embattled African regime. Jihadists, fleeing Algeria in the late 1990s, had been roaming unimpeded among Muslim populations in sub-Saharan Africa, living off ransoms for abducted Western expatriate workers, seeding their ideology among the locals. When in January of this year a radical Malian offshoot looked poised to take the capital, Bamako, Hollande ordered them stopped with air and ground attacks, a decision that showed continuity with, rather than rupture from, his predecessors.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #274e13;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #274e13;"><b>Champion of rebellion here, backer of the status quo there, France has turned the page of colonialism but not of interference. Paris is not just protecting Mali but the vital Algerian gas industry across the long Saharan border—Algiers, obligingly, opened its airspace to French fighter jets. The risk is real: hours after French military operations started, a jihadist commando took hundreds hostage in an Algerian gas facility. The huge task now before Hollande is to mop up the mess in the Sahara created by the 1990s Algerian civil war as well as the recent revolution in Libya. And he has to do so without being stigmatized as imperialist, because the erring of French foreign policy in the Muslim world can come home to roost.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #274e13;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #274e13;"><b>In March 2012, Mohamed Merah, a radicalized twenty-two-year-old gunman, claimed nine victims in the south of France. A Frenchman of Algerian descent, Merah had embraced the jihadist creed and received weapon training the previous summer in Waziristan. Several thousand people are on the French government’s domestic terrorist watch list, many of them women and teenagers glued to their computer screens. French with roots in Muslim Algeria, Senegal, Mali, Niger, and elsewhere will read the foreign policy of their home country through the prism of whatever lingering identification they feel for their country and religion of origin, and of their exposure to jihadist Internet propaganda. To legitimize the operation in Mali, Hollande sought a UN mandate, enrolled African nations to contribute boots on the ground, and got the blessing of his allies in Arabia. With no certainty that this would be enough to counter a Web filled with condemnations of French imperialism, France was placed on high alert for terrorist threat.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #274e13;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #274e13;"><b>Postcolonial victimization fuels the hostility of the jihadist current, and if for that reason alone, it is essential for Western capitals to extricate themselves from that legacy. Hollande’s Algiers apology, however, resembles Obama’s June 2009 “A New Beginning” speech in Cairo: a one-off statement competing against a narrative barrage about the evil of the West and its hegemonic ambitions. It is not clear that, aside from their value as theater, Hollande’s regrets will have measurable effect, one way or the other. Barack Obama’s “apology tour” didn’t make the US more loved or less feared in the Middle East. China’s bickering with Japan for not owning up to World War II atrocities is far less a cause of growing tension between the two nations than practical territorial disputes. Time passes, and the crimes of French colonialism do not reflect on contemporary French society any more than they excuse the shortcomings of the current Algerian government. History takes place in the there and then, and when that context has vanished into time, it is left to scholars to exhume the human reality from the mass graves of human affairs. When it comes to an issue as complicated as “Algérie Française,” opportunistic politicians should stand back. </b></span><br /><br /><br /><h1 class="title" id="page-title"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></span></h1></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-60601497877277397382013-04-16T23:46:00.000-07:002013-04-16T23:46:41.433-07:00Boston Marathon attack: FBI reveals bomb details<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h1 class="story-header"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Boston Marathon attack: FBI reveals bomb details</span></h1><h1 class="story-header">&nbsp;<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsCFxuIlPzk/UW5EGeo_65I/AAAAAAAABlo/trhaXouc5Zw/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="329" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsCFxuIlPzk/UW5EGeo_65I/AAAAAAAABlo/trhaXouc5Zw/s320/1.jpg" width="587" /></a></h1><h1 class="story-header">&nbsp;</h1><h1 class="story-header"><span style="color: #e69138;">&nbsp;<span style="width: 464px;">The remains of a dark coloured backpack believed to have been used in the attack</span></span></h1><h1 class="story-header"><span style="color: #073763;"><span style="width: 464px;"></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="width: 464px;">Images from the FBI probe into the deadly attack on the Boston Marathon have thrown light on the bombs used.</span></span></span></h1><h1 class="story-header"><span style="color: #274e13;"><span style="width: 464px;"></span><span style="font-size: small;">Images from a joint Homeland Security and FBI bulletin show the remains of a dark coloured backpack and remnants of what appears to be a pressure cooker.</span></span></h1><b> </b><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Three people died, including an eight-year-old boy, and more than 170 were injured when two bombs exploded near the finish line of Monday's race.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>President Barack Obama will travel to Boston on Thursday for a memorial.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The BBC's Paul Adams, in Boston, says vigils for the victims were held across the city on Tuesday night as Bostonians still wrestled with why anyone would want to attack their much-loved marathon.</b></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b><span class="cross-head">'Someone knows'</span></b></span> <br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers told a news conference that pieces of nylon had been recovered from the scene, along with fragments of ball bearings and nails that were "possibly contained in a pressure-cooker device".</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>He said they were being sent to the agency's laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, where experts would reconstruct the devices to determine their make-up and components.</b></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>&nbsp; </b></span><br /><div id="story_continues_2"><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>He added: "The investigation is in its infancy. There are no claims of responsibility and the range of suspects and motives remains wide open."</b></span></div><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Mr DesLauriers urged people to report anyone they had seen acting suspiciously.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>"Someone knows who did this," he said.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Associated Press quoted a source close to the investigation as saying that the bombs consisted of explosives placed in 1.6-gallon pressure cookers, one with shards of metal and ball bearings, the other with nails.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b>The bombs were put into black bags and left on the ground, the source said.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b>Our correspondent says it has also been reported that a circuit board and battery pack - parts of a triggering mechanism - were also recovered.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b>Doctors treating the wounded say their injuries indicate that the bombs contained metal shards and other shrapnel. A number of victims have had limbs amputated.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b>Speaking at the same news conference, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said the Boston community would "recover and heal" from the attack. </b></span><br /><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b>"This is one community. We are all in this together," he said.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b>President Obama will address an interfaith service in Boston for the victims on Thursday morning.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b>The White House said Mr Obama had cancelled a planned trip to Kansas to speak.</b></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Earlier, President Obama condemned the bombings as a terrorist act.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>He said the attack was "heinous and cowardly" but stressed it was not yet known whether an organisation - either domestic or foreign - or a "malevolent individual" was responsible, nor what the motive might have been.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>"Everything else at this point is speculation," he said.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>"It will take time... but we will find whoever harmed our citizens and we will bring them to justice."</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>One of those who died has been named as eight-year-old Martin Richard, from the Dorchester area of Boston.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>He was at the finishing line with his mother and sister, who were both seriously injured.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>"They were looking in the crowd as the runners were coming to see if they could identify some of their friends when the bomb hit," Congressman Stephen Lynch, a friend of the Richard family, told Associated Press.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Flowers and tributes were being placed outside the family's home on Tuesday.</b></span><br /><br /><div id="story_continues_3"><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>A second victim was named as Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager.</b></span></div><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Her father released a statement saying the family was devastated.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Boston University said the third person who died was a graduate student. In a statement on Tuesday, it said it was not releasing the name or any other information about the student pending permission from the family.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>However, it said the student was one of three friends watching the race near the finish line. Another of the three was injured and is in a stable condition in hospital, the university added.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The Chinese consulate in New York later confirmed that the student who died was a Chinese national.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The first explosion went off close to the finish line at about 14:50 local time (18:50 GMT) on Monday.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Seconds later, as rescuers were rushing to help the injured, another explosion went off nearby.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Speaking at an earlier press conference, Mr DesLauriers moved to reassure the public, saying there was no longer any "known imminent physical threat" to Boston.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>"We will go to the ends of the Earth to identify the subject or subjects who are responsible for this despicable crime, and we will do everything we can to bring them to justice," he said.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>Police have asked the public to send in any videos or photographs they may have from the day.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #351c75;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #351c75;"><b>The London Marathon - the next major international marathon - is to go ahead on Sunday, with police saying they have well-rehearsed security plans.</b></span><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-adCAQHz4FMI/UW5Eo355AZI/AAAAAAAABl4/4pDIb6JL4ms/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="506" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-adCAQHz4FMI/UW5Eo355AZI/AAAAAAAABl4/4pDIb6JL4ms/s640/2.jpg" width="640" /></a></b></div><br /><h1 class="story-header"><span style="width: 464px;">&nbsp;</span></h1><h1 class="story-header">&nbsp;</h1></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-65121754846877970112013-04-14T02:16:00.000-07:002013-04-14T02:25:42.004-07:00Thatcher Funeral: Most Brits Oppose Paying<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><figure class="inlinedImage inlinedLANDSCAPE"><figcaption><h1 class="normal"><span style="color: #38761d;">Thatcher Funeral: Most Brits Oppose Paying</span></h1><b> <span style="color: #bf9000;"><a href="http://jameskannuri.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Lady Thatcher</a> said she did not want a state funeral, but she has been given the next highest honour: a ceremonial funeral with full military honours tailored to her.</span></b><br /><span style="color: #bf9000;"> </span><span style="color: #bf9000;"><b> With all the the pageantry of a state funeral, Wednesday's service is set to be the largest in Britain since the Queen Mother's, bringing to the fore the issue of who will pay.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #bf9000;"> </span><span style="color: #bf9000;"><b> While her estate will make a contribution,&nbsp;Downing Street has refused to give details about how much the service will cost the taxpayer, saying this will be revealed after the funeral.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #bf9000;"> </span><span style="color: #bf9000;"><b> But a&nbsp;ComRes survey for the Independent on Sunday and the Sunday Mirror has found that only 25% of people think it should be funded by the public purse - compared to 60% who are against the idea.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #bf9000;"> </span><span style="color: #bf9000;"><b> The survey also showed that one in three people think she was Britain's greatest peacetime prime minister - although 41% of people disagreed.</b></span><br /><br /><b><br /></b><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LEqGi_-ksFU/UWpx-dsA6cI/AAAAAAAABks/o8I_xuCm2wg/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="304" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LEqGi_-ksFU/UWpx-dsA6cI/AAAAAAAABks/o8I_xuCm2wg/s320/3.jpg" width="545" /></a></b></div><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Labour's former deputy prime minister John Prescott angrily denounced the cost in his column for the Sunday Mirror.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"> </span><span style="color: #990000;"><b> "Thatcher split this country, North and South, the haves and have nots, 'one of us' or 'the enemy within'. This country paid enough thanks to that woman. So why the hell should we continue to pay now she's dead?," he wrote.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"> </span><span style="color: #990000;"><b> "Privatise her funeral. It would be a fitting tribute," he added.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"> </span><span style="color: #990000;"><b> <a href="http://topnewsscan.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">David Cameron</a> and William Hague both defended using taxpayers' money last week, insisting it would be wrong not to mark Lady Thatcher's huge contribution to the nation.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #990000;"><b> The Foreign Secretary said: "The rebate she negotiated for this country from the EU has brought us so far £75 billion - which is twice the size of our annual defence budget&nbsp;</b></span></figcaption><figcaption><b>&nbsp;</b></figcaption><figcaption><b>&nbsp;</b></figcaption><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jbB2AGoaPME/UWpx-GGhPBI/AAAAAAAABko/pVP9gg3OR-U/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jbB2AGoaPME/UWpx-GGhPBI/AAAAAAAABko/pVP9gg3OR-U/s640/2.jpg" width="576" /></a></b></div><figcaption><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>&nbsp;</b></span></figcaption><figcaption></figcaption><figcaption></figcaption><figcaption></figcaption><figcaption></figcaption><figcaption></figcaption><figcaption></figcaption><figcaption><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>David Cameron will do a Bible reading at the funeral</b></span></figcaption><span style="color: #0b5394;"> </span></figure></div><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> "I think that puts money in perspective ... so I think we can afford to contribute to a funeral."</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> The poll comes as the Government released the Order of Service for the funeral at St Paul's Cathedral on Wednesday.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> Lady Thatcher's coffin will be carried through the streets of London on a gun carriage, allowing the public to pay their respects as the funeral cortege passes by.&nbsp;</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> It is the same honour bestowed on Diana, the Queen Mother and Winston Churchill.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> Then there will be a single bell will toll as the funeral cortege draws up to St Paul's, and 14 Chelsea pensioners will line the steps as the coffin is taken into the cathedral.</b></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hgStYF5c_Tk/UWpx-daje6I/AAAAAAAABk0/KTuiUVTzAn4/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="331" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hgStYF5c_Tk/UWpx-daje6I/AAAAAAAABk0/KTuiUVTzAn4/s640/1.jpg" width="592" /></a></b></div><br /><br /><br /><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</b><br /><br /><br /><br /><b style="color: #a64d79;">The presence of the pensioners - the oldest aged 90 - is aimed at reflecting the strong connection Lady Thatcher built up with the Royal Hospital Chelsea over the last 10 years.</b><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> In front of the coffin, Michael and Amanda Thatcher, grandchildren of the former prime minister, will carry cushions bearing the insignia of the Order of the Garter and the Order of Merit and lay them on the Dome Altar.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> The service, attended by the Queen, will be "framed" by British music, with traditional pieces by great British composers played at the beginning and at the end.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> Lady Thatcher's love of poetry will be reflected in her choice of TS Eliot's Little Gidding, which will be printed on the opening page of the Order of Service and William Wordsworth's Ode: Intimations of Immortality on the final page.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> Prime Minister David Cameron and Amanda Thatcher will deliver the readings from the King James Bible - of which she was particularly fond.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> It was confirmed that the hymns will be He Who Would Valiant Be, Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, Psalm 84 set to the music of Johannes Brahms, and the patriotic verse I Vow To Thee My Country.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> The funeral address will be delivered by the Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> The military procession leading to the service will feature more than 700 serving Armed Forces personnel from units particularly associated with the Falklands War, including some from the Welsh Guards, the regiment that suffered some of the heaviest losses.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> Plans are also developing for Lady Thatcher's legacy to be enshrined in the creation of a major new institution to promote her political philosophy and shape future Tory politics.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> Supporters of the former leader are working on a Margaret Thatcher library for London as a lasting memorial.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> Backers also aim to raise £15m in private funds to establish the combined library, museum and training centre.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #a64d79;"><b> It is planned that visitors will be able to view key artefacts from her time in office, such as her trademark blue Aquascutum suits and handbags.</b></span></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-51625710753475832572013-04-13T01:29:00.000-07:002013-04-13T01:29:22.203-07:002 killed, dozens injured after bus rolls over in Irving, Texas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="color: #741b47;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">2 killed, dozens injured after bus rolls over in Irving, Texas</span></b></span><br /><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span></b><br /><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WXeD11uLKDs/UWkW9bXgLvI/AAAAAAAABkA/GHgs757zEuk/s1600/2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="429" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WXeD11uLKDs/UWkW9bXgLvI/AAAAAAAABkA/GHgs757zEuk/s640/2.JPG" width="592" /></a></div><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><b><br /></b><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span style="color: #0b5394;">At least two people were killed and more than 40 were hospitalized after a charter bus carrying dozens of passengers overturned outside Dallas Thursday morning during the rush hour commute.</span></b><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>The Cardinal Coach Line bus was on its way to a casino in Oklahoma when it suddenly weaved across the busy highway and struck two concrete barriers before toppling over in the center median, witnesses said. The wreck occurred along President George Bush Turnpike in Irving, just east of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, according to the Associated Press.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Trooper Lonny Haschel of the Texas Department of Public Safety identifies the dead as 69-year-old Paula Hahn, of Fort Worth, and 81-year-old Sue Taylor, of Hurst, a Fort Worth suburb.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Passengers had said Taylor, known to them as "Casino Sue," organized the trip to the Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Okla.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Authorities say 45 people were aboard the bus, 41 of whom were taken to Dallas-area hospitals for treatment. The 15 worst injured were taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, where four were listed in critical condition.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Witnesses say the bus may have blown a tire and rolled several times during the crash.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>"Most of the people we pulled out were in shock, they're just crying, we were just trying to get them out and calm them down," said Robert Hare, who witnessed the crash.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>"It was just people stacked on top of each other and the bus, it was three seats and the aisle was on the bottom, so all three seats feel into the aisle and they're on top of each other," said witness Ed Cluck, according to Fox 4.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Emergency vehicles could be seen swarming the bus as it lay in the grassy center median, and ladders were being used to access the vehicle. The bus was carrying about 45 people, most of them senior citizens, law enforcement officials said.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>A man who answered the phone at Cardinal Coach's offices in Mansfield, just south of Dallas, confirmed that one of the company's buses was involved. But said he didn't have time to talk because he was trying to gather information about the crash.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Cardinal Coach has reported no crashes in the last two years that resulted in deaths or injuries, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The company operates five buses and employs seven drivers, records show.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Cardinal Coach buses have been subjected to roadside inspections by the Texas Department of Public Safety three times in the last two years, according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records. The most recent was last Thursday, when the driver was cited for speeding and a violation relating to his logbook, neither of which led to an out-of-service order.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>The DPS also inspected the company's buses twice in July 2011. On July 25, 2011, a driver was placed out of service for not having an hours-of-service log book. Four days later, a driver was placed out of service for not having a medical card, while the bus was placed out of service due to a lighting violation.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>The federal agency also performed a compliance review of the company in May 2009, resulting in a satisfactory rating, records show.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Law enforcement officers were interviewing bus passengers and other drivers who witnessed the crash. The wreck occurred near an interchange with a second highway, snarling traffic for several miles.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>"We ended up swirling and weaving and then ended up on the side," passenger Daniel Risik, 73, told The Dallas Morning News. "People were screaming and hollering, a very traumatic situation to say the least."</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Risik said most of the passengers weren't wearing seat belts.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>"People were piled on top of each other," he said. "It was unbelievable. A lady had pinned me. Rescue got there and started pulling people out of a roof emergency hatch. People were hollering, screaming, there was blood all over the place. It was unbelievable."</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>A spokesman for Baylor Medical Center in Irving said 13 patients arrived at the hospital following the accident. Officials at Las Colinas Medical Center in Irving confirmed that another six patients were there, though details weren't immediately available on their conditions.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Another 15 patients were transported to Parkland Memorial Hospital, including the driver of the bus, and another victim was airlifted to a fourth hospital in critical condition, hospital officials said. Public transportation buses with Dallas Area Rapid Transit were used to transport some passengers with lesser injuries.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>The National Transportation Safety Board is sending investigators to Irving, board spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said.</b></span><br /><b><br /></b></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-85667399594990172682013-04-13T01:23:00.000-07:002013-04-13T01:38:35.439-07:00What Rand Paul Doesn't Get About Abe Lincoln, Abe Vigoda, and Black Voters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h1><span style="color: #660000;">What Rand Paul Doesn't Get About Abe Lincoln, Abe Vigoda, and Black Voters</span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-idqnxjJK7gQ/UWkVDJUHZfI/AAAAAAAABjw/ccOud7f7qSo/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="403" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-idqnxjJK7gQ/UWkVDJUHZfI/AAAAAAAABjw/ccOud7f7qSo/s640/1.jpg" width="606" /></a></b></span></div><h1><span style="color: #b45f06;">&nbsp;</span></h1><h1><span style="color: #b45f06;">&nbsp;</span></h1><h1><span style="color: #b45f06;">&nbsp;</span></h1><h1><span style="color: #b45f06;">&nbsp;</span></h1><h1><span style="color: #b45f06;">&nbsp;</span></h1><h1></h1><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>Here's something that someone might want to share with Rand Paul.&nbsp;Abraham Lincoln was a president.&nbsp;Abe Vigoda was an actor.&nbsp;The fact that they both have the same first name, does not make them the same person.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b> </b></span><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>That may seem obvious to you, but it's something that I feel compelled to share. Because after listening to his Howard University speech, I'm not sure it's a concept that Senator Paul fully understands.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>Here's why: On some basic level, Paul's speech was an inquiry into the alienation that exists between the GOP and African-Americans. His conclusion: It's all just a big misunderstanding.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>[See a collection of political cartoons on the Republican Party.]</b></span><br /><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>You see, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican and he signed the Emancipation Proclamation.&nbsp;It was Democrats who led the South's retrenchment after Reconstruction, established segregation and fought tooth and nail to protect Jim Crow.&nbsp;So it's Republicans, not Democrats, according to Paul, who have always been the party of civil rights.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>So why aren't more African-Americans Republicans? Paul has an explanation: Having achieved electoral and civil rights African-Americans wanted economic equality, too. Republicans offered one way to get it, according to Paul, the free market, while Democrats offered another, government largesse. Thus far, Paul says, African-Americans have preferred the latter path to the former and what Republicans need to do is better explain why African-Americans should instead embrace the free market model. That's his theory anyway.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>Here Paul's trying to pull off an interesting trick: using Republican performance from the pretty distant past to try and credential current policies.&nbsp;But in his historical retelling, Paul essentially collapses the timeline and says: look, we've always been for civil rights, and our free market prescriptions are just the latest iteration of that.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>Now, it may be that this is the argument the GOP's been looking for.&nbsp;Perhaps, having heard it, African-Americans will vote Republican in droves in 2014.&nbsp;But I'm not convinced.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>First, despite Paul's convictions, there's a pretty obvious reason why African Americans vote for more Democratic candidates than Republicans: They prefer Democratic policies. That's how most voters decide who to vote for – they review the candidate's positions on issues important to them, and then vote for the one whose views are more in sync with their own.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>Paul probably wouldn't contest that – but he'd place the blame for Republican losses on someone who you might not expect: the voter.&nbsp;Instead of concluding that to compete for African-American votes Republicans have to change their policies, he suggests that the problem is the failure of African-Americans to fully comprehend the policies Republicans propose.&nbsp;That's what he means when he says that Republicans have to find a different way to talk about them, right?&nbsp;The policy isn't the problem, it's your ability, (or lack thereof) to grasp it.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>And here, Paul finds himself on something of a slippery slope.&nbsp;I mean, politics isn't rocket science. And somehow every couple of years voters across the country manage to sift through the various policy papers and pronouncements of politicians up and down the ballot to make decisions about who to support.&nbsp;It's peculiar (at the very least) to suggest that African-Americans are somehow incapable of engaging in the required analysis to do it when it comes to Republicans.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>There's something else about Paul's thesis that just doesn't add up.&nbsp;Yes, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, and Democrats dominated southern politics during segregation.&nbsp;But really, which of these parties of the past has more in common with the iterations that exist today?</b></span><br /><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>If the answers not obvious to you, there's another bit of history that can help clear it up.&nbsp;Starting in the 1940s and accelerating in the 1960s national Democratic attitudes about segregation moved to the left, while the attitudes of the southern conservatives who had long affiliated with the Democratic Party pushed further to the right.&nbsp;This created an untenable intraparty tension that couldn't last forever. And it didn't, because southern conservatives found a new, more comfortable party to call home, one that expressed values in sync with their own.&nbsp;It was the Republican Party.&nbsp;They switched to it in droves.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>All of which means, you guessed it, the lineage of today's Republican party traces much more directly to those pro-segregation Democrats than it does to any southern Republicans&nbsp;who may have been around in that day.</b></span><br /><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b></b></span><span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>So let's be clear: Yes, Rand Paul is a Republican but when it comes to civil rights, his version of the GOP has about as much in common with the one that helped free the slaves as Abe Lincoln has with Abe Vigoda.</b></span><br /><h1><span style="color: #b45f06;">&nbsp;</span></h1></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-8981163427611430682013-04-10T22:13:00.000-07:002013-04-10T22:13:05.174-07:00Korea crisis high on agenda at London G8 talks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><br /><div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1"></div><h1 class="story-header"><span style="color: #38761d;">Korea crisis high on agenda at London G8 talks</span></h1><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DKPmL-tIdIc/UWZF1JvZGmI/AAAAAAAABfw/s70-w0OIg7A/s1600/111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #783f04;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DKPmL-tIdIc/UWZF1JvZGmI/AAAAAAAABfw/s70-w0OIg7A/s1600/111.jpg" /></span></a></div><div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1"><b><span style="color: #783f04;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1"><span style="color: #783f04;"><br /></span></div><div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1"><b><span style="color: #783f04;">The Korean crisis will be high on the agenda when foreign ministers from the G8 group of nations hold talks in London on Thursday.</span></b></div><b><span style="color: #783f04;">Correspondents say Japan, present at the talks, is looking for a strong statement of solidarity over the issue.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">North Korea has been making bellicose threats against South Korea, Japan and US bases in the region.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">Ministers will also debate the Syrian crisis, Iran's nuclear programme and sexual violence in conflicts.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">The BBC's diplomatic correspondent James Robbins says ministers agree that the combination of warlike threats from Pyongyang and preparations for new missile tests amount to dangerous provocation. </span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">"There is no disagreement with the United States over North Korea," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in London on Wednesday.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">South Korea has raised its alert level amid indications that the North is preparing for a missile test.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">Pyongyang has increased its fiery rhetoric following fresh UN sanctions imposed after its third nuclear test and joint military manoeuvres by the US and South Korea.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;"><span class="cross-head">Syria division</span> </span></b><b><span style="color: #783f04;">Meanwhile, G8 ministers met Syrian opposition figures on Wednesday on the sidelines of the two-day meeting.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">Our correspondent says that, unlike North Korea, Syria divides the G8 and no-one expects Damascus's ally Russia to join others backing punitive action against President Bashar al-Assad.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">Fresh evidence of links between some opposition fighters and al-Qaeda make it even harder for governments to decide a course of action, he adds.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">In a meeting with ministers on Wednesday, leaders of the opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) reportedly pressed for more humanitarian assistance.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">Mr Kerry, however, stressed the importance of the opposition becoming better organised, a senior US official told reporters.&nbsp;</span></b><br /><br /><b><span style="color: #783f04;">In a statement issued after the talks, UK Foreign</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #783f04;">Secretary William Hague said Britain was committed to finding a political solution to the crisis.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">"We discussed what further assistance the UK could provide to save lives in Syria, and how we could work together to ensure this support was channelled most effectively," he said.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">The London talks are also the first chance for G8 ministers to discuss face-to-face the failure of last week's meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on curbing Iran's nuclear programme.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">Tehran says it only wants to produce energy but the US and its allies suspect it is trying to develop a nuclear weapon.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">Mr Hague, meanwhile, has said his "personal priority" for the G8 meeting is a new agreement to prevent sexual violence in conflicts.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">Burma, Somalia and cyber-security are also topics on the agenda.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">The Group of Eight nations comprises the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #783f04;">Britain currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the G8 and the talks are a prelude to the annual G8 summit later this year in Northern Ireland.</span></b><br /></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-51459194825449316152013-04-10T11:35:00.000-07:002013-04-10T11:35:17.137-07:00Syria crisis: Al-Nusra pledges allegiance to al-Qaeda<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h1 class="story-header"><span style="color: #4c1130;">Syria crisis: Al-Nusra pledges allegiance to al-Qaeda</span></h1><div class="caption body-width"><b><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="width: 464px;">Al-Nusra has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the US</span> </span></b></div><div class="caption body-width"><span style="width: 464px;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="caption body-width"><span style="width: 464px;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i7vIl6SIg3s/UWWwX-of_zI/AAAAAAAABfg/X1aupRvOHLg/s1600/_66926536_017696744-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><img border="0" height="360" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i7vIl6SIg3s/UWWwX-of_zI/AAAAAAAABfg/X1aupRvOHLg/s640/_66926536_017696744-1.jpg" width="640" /></b></a></div><div class="caption body-width"><span style="width: 464px;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="caption body-width"><span style="width: 464px;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="caption body-width"><span style="width: 464px;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="caption body-width"><span style="width: 464px;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="caption body-width"><span style="width: 464px;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="caption body-width"><span style="width: 464px;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="caption body-width"><span style="width: 464px;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="caption body-width"><span style="width: 464px;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="embedded-hyper"><b><br /></b><div class="hyperpuff"> <h2><span style="color: #073763;">Syria conflict</span></h2><ul><li> <b><span style="color: #073763;">From peace to war </span></b></li><li> <b><span style="color: #073763;">Sides entrenched </span></b></li><li> <b><span style="color: #073763;">Arms debate </span></b></li><li> <b><span style="color: #073763;">Guide to conflict</span> </b></li></ul></div></div><div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1"><b><span style="color: #38761d;">The leader of the al-Nusra Front, a jihadist group fighting in Syria, has pledged allegiance to the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri.</span></b></div><b><span style="color: #38761d;">Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani said the group's behaviour in Syria would not change as a result.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #38761d;">Al-Nusra claims to have carried out many suicide bombings and guerrilla attacks against state targets.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #38761d;">On Tuesday, al-Qaeda in Iraq announced a merger with al-Nusra, but Mr Jawlani said he had not been consulted on this.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #38761d;">Al-Nusra has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the US. </span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #38761d;">Debates among Western leaders over whether to arm Syria's rebels have often raised the concern of weapons ending up in the hands of groups such as al-Nusra.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #38761d;">"The sons of al-Nusra Front pledge allegiance to Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri," Mr Jawlani said in a recording released on Wednesday.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #38761d;">But Mr Jawlani said al-Nusra had not been consulted on the merger with al-Qaeda in Iraq and insisted his group would not change its stance in Syria.</span></b><br /> <div class="story-feature wide "><h2><span style="color: #b45f06;">Analysis</span></h2><div class="byline"> <b><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span class="byline-name">Jim Muir</span> <span class="byline-title">BBC News, Beirut</span> </span></b></div><b><span style="color: #b45f06;">The al-Nusra Front clearly finds itself in an awkward position, caught between pragmatic realities on the ground in Syria and its ideological identity and affiliation as an al-Qaeda-related Salafi group ostensibly bent on installing an Islamic state in the region. </span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #b45f06;">The al-Nusra leader's unequivocal public pledge of allegiance to Osama Bin Laden's successor Ayman al-Zawahiri came just three days after the latter called on jihadis to do everything possible to bring about an Islamic state in Syria, as a building-block for a wider caliphate.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #b45f06;">That is a goal al-Nusra is generally keeping quiet about, as it seeks to win hearts and minds in the "liberated areas" and to keep the cooperation of other fighting groups dedicated to overthrowing the regime in the name of democracy.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Al-Nusra is aware that al-Qaeda is not a name to conjure with in Syria, which is presumably why it distanced itself from Tuesday's merger announcement from the al-Qaeda leader in Iraq.</span></b><br /> </div><div id="story_continues_2"><b><span style="color: #b45f06;">The al-Nusra statement assured Syrians that the "good behaviour" they had experienced from the front on the ground would continue unchanged, the BBC's Jim Muir reports from neighbouring Lebanon.</span></b></div><b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Mr Jawlani said that the oath of allegiance to Zawahiri "will not change anything in its policies", our correspondent adds.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span class="cross-head">Controversial ties</span> </span></b><b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State in Iraq, which is the Iraqi wing of al-Qaeda, had said on Tuesday that his group would be joining with al-Nusra under the name The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #b45f06;">But Mr Jawlani said he only heard about the announcement from media and had no prior knowledge of it.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Correspondents say that although it is widely believed - and al-Nusra Front has acknowledged - that there are strong ties between it and the Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda, it is clearly not something the group wants to highlight. </span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Al-Nusra is seen as trying to win the support of the population in rebel-held areas, and also to keep the goodwill of the other opposition groups who do not want to be associated with al-Qaeda. </span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Spokesmen for the Free Syrian Army, considered the main armed opposition group in Syria, reacted to Wednesday's statement by distancing themselves from al-Nusra.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #b45f06;">"We don't support the ideology of al-Nusra," FSA spokesman Louay Meqdad told the AFP news agency.</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #b45f06;">"There has never been and there will never be a decision at the command level to coordinate with al-Nusra," Mr Meqdad went on, while admitting that there had been co-operation between FSA brigades and al-Nusra on "certain operations".</span></b><br /> <b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Also on Wednesday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the crisis in Syria will be at the "top of the agenda" when G8 foreign ministers meet in London this week.</span></b><br /></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-42335978607064762482013-04-09T22:36:00.001-07:002013-04-09T22:36:52.320-07:00Germans may find it hard to sell their subs <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="body"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Germans may find it hard to sell their subs&nbsp; </span></b></span></span></div><div class="body"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kfJ-9bEKH6o/UWT59s7buEI/AAAAAAAABeQ/cQDhDMJUiqw/s1600/09-angela_626882f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kfJ-9bEKH6o/UWT59s7buEI/AAAAAAAABeQ/cQDhDMJUiqw/s400/09-angela_626882f.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></span></div><div class="body"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="body"><br /></div><div class="body"><br /></div><div class="body"><br /></div><div class="body"><br /></div><div class="body"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b>&nbsp;<span style="color: #b45f06;">Questions have arisen about the efficacy of German submarines just before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chancellor Angela Merkel sit down for talks in Berlin late this week when arms trade will be a certain, but underplayed, segment of the discussions. </span></b></span></div><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b></b></span></span><div class="body"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b>A submarine tender is too lucrative one to covet and like all big ticket military hardware deals, sees tremendous undercutting of the rival’s position. This time the contest among French, German and Russian submarines promises to be no different. The last tender, close to Rs. 20,000 crore, was bagged by the French. The Germans were not considered due to a corruption charge that was rejected by the courts here. </b></span></span></div><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b></b></span></span><div class="body"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b>Technical problems</b></span></span></div><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b></b></span></span><div class="body"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b>Fingers are being pointed at the poor performance of German submarines in the South Korean and Greek navies. The Hindu has independently verified that allegations about persisting technical problems with the Korean’s HDW Type 214 submarines are correct. The informed sources also confirmed that a prototype Greek submarine of German design too suffered from serious problems. </b></span></span></div><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b></b></span></span><div class="body"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b>But the Indian Navy, badly short of submarines and struggling to complete the French Scorpene project, does not have any complaints about its four German submarines. Sources in the Navy said the four HDW submarines were working fine and they were satisfied with their performance. The sources expressed ignorance about HDW submarines malfunctioning in South Korea. But Korean diplomatic sources admitted there were problems. </b></span></span></div><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b></b></span></span><div class="body"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b>The German submarines with the Indian Navy seemed to have followed the same trajectory as the VIP AgustaWestland helicopters. Of the 12 choppers, three have arrived while the import of the remaining has been suspended due to bribery charge. Similarly, in the case of the German submarines, two arrived from the OEM and the other two were assembled here. Then the bribery charge struck and the option to build two more was withdrawn. </b></span></span></div><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b></b></span></span><div class="body"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b>Vital shortcoming</b></span></span></div><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b></b></span></span><div class="body"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b>According to the sources, Korean submarines Son Won II, Jeongji and Jung-geun were immobilised after the first submarine was badly damaged on the high seas. It has also been alleged that the submarines suffer noise problems. This is a vital shortcoming in a submarine which has to be as noiseless as possible to avoid detection. Or, as Navy officials say, they will be as easy to detect as some Chinese submarines that tried to recce the Bay of Bengal. “We picked them up each time they came,” claimed a Navy official. </b></span></span></div><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b></b></span></span><div class="body"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b>Independent sources, however, said the noise levels of the German submarines were lower than the requirement but higher than what the manufacturers – ThyssenKrupp Marine Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) – had promised. The sources making the allegations also claimed HDW were fined for the persisting technical problems but none could independently verify the charge. </b></span></span></div><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b></b></span></span><div class="body"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b>In the case of Greek submarine Papanikolis, the sources backed their claims with video footage that showed an unusual tilt as it dived. The Germans worked on the Papanikolis but the government has raised other issues. </b></span></span></div><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b></b></span></span><div class="body"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b>These problems mean it will not be easy sailing for the German submarines when they make a pitch for the Indian Navy tender. </b></span></span></div><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b></b></span></span><div class="body"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b>Currently, the Ministry of Defence is looking at the configuration for supply with circumspection and some more time might be required before a firm decision is taken to call for bids. </b></span></span></div><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b></b></span></span><div class="body"><span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif;"><b>Ironically, the allegations against the Germans have originated from one of its close allies, thus indicating the cut-throat competition that is always an integral component of such large military tenders. </b></span></span></div></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-65062284784422976432013-04-09T01:04:00.000-07:002013-04-09T01:04:20.025-07:00North Korea: Putin In 'Chernobyl' Warning<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="intro"><br /></div><h1 class="normal"><span style="color: #a64d79;">North Korea: Putin In 'Chernobyl' Warning</span></h1><h2 class="standfirst"><span style="color: #e69138;">Russia's president says a conflict between the two Koreas could make the infamous nuclear accident "seem like a fairy tale".</span></h2><h2 class="standfirst">&nbsp;<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J2JptAjLyx8/UWPK8YORH7I/AAAAAAAABa0/_l6KitcZzqw/s1600/thumbnail.php.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J2JptAjLyx8/UWPK8YORH7I/AAAAAAAABa0/_l6KitcZzqw/s1600/thumbnail.php.jpg" /></a></div></h2><h2 class="standfirst"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Vladimir Putin has said a war in Korea could be more devastating than the Chernobyl disaster as Pyongyang was warned against another nuclear test.</span></span></h2><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Russian President said he was "worried about the escalation on the Korean peninsula, because we are neighbours".</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And Mr Putin, who also praised a US decision to postpone a planned missile test as part of efforts to reduce tensions, said he feared a situation worse than that in Chernobyl after a nuclear accident that was later linked to thousands of deaths.</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"If, God forbid, something happens, Chernobyl which we all know a lot about, may seem like a child's fairy tale," he said.</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Is there such a threat or not? I think there is ... I would urge everyone to calm down ... and start to resolve the problems that have piled up for many years there at the negotiating table."</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His intervention came after United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the North not to carry out a new nuclear test - saying it would be a "provocative" act.</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">South Korea raised fears a fourth test was due amid reports of increased activity at the main atomic test site Punggye-ri but later backtracked.</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Its Defence Ministry said: "We found there had been no unusual movements that indicated it wanted to carry out a nuclear test."</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mr Ban said: "The Democratic People's Republic of North Korea cannot go on like this, confronting and challenging the authority of the (UN) Security Council and the international community.</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I am urging them to refrain from taking any further provocative measures."</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">China's Foreign Ministry also said it wanted peace on the Korean peninsula, not war, adding a proper solution to the crisis was the responsibility of all parties.</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Pentagon has already strengthened its missile defences in response to the repeated threats made by Pyongyang in recent weeks.</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, the New York Times has reported a more thorough plan that sets out a limited but forceful response to any future provocation has been drawn up by the US and South Korea.</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It said US officials had outlined a "counter-provocation" plan that would see a "response in kind" that would hit the source of any North Korean attack with similar weapons.</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meanwhile, North Korea said it was withdrawing all workers and suspending operations at its joint industrial zone with South Korea, the only surviving symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">South Korea has appealed for North Korea to allow access to the Kaesong joint industrial park, six miles inside its borders.</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The North banned South Korean managers and personnel from crossing the border to enter the complex since last Wednesday.</span><br /><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So far 13 the 123 South Korean firms operating there have been forced to halt production due to fuel and raw material shortages.</span></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-66873961499925135772013-04-08T12:50:00.001-07:002013-04-08T12:50:51.447-07:00Margaret Thatcher dies: latest reaction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Margaret Thatcher dies: latest reaction</span></span></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b></b></span></span><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wFieHflidHo/UWMevw8qExI/AAAAAAAABac/D7OGyJnzPzo/s1600/111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wFieHflidHo/UWMevw8qExI/AAAAAAAABac/D7OGyJnzPzo/s400/111.jpg" width="324" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I3RXRlaBfe4/UWMewNSZLQI/AAAAAAAABag/eYCe3ACP1OI/s1600/Margaret-Thatcher-1818015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></b></div><div class="fourthPar"><b>&nbsp;</b></div><div class="fifthPar"> <b>20.20 Morrissey, the music star and longtime critic of Baroness Thatcher, has taken the opportunity to berate her as "barbaric" and without an atom of humanity". </b></div><b></b><b><i><img align="left" alt="Quote" height="40" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01817/quotes_1817837a.gif" width="45" />Every move she made was charged by negativity; she destroyed the British manufacturing industry, she hated the miners, she hated the arts, she hated the Irish Freedom Fighters and allowed them to die, she hated the English poor and did nothing at all to help them, she hated Greenpeace and environmental protectionists, she was the only European political leader who opposed a ban on the Ivory Trade, she had no wit and no warmth and even her own Cabinet booted her out.</i></b><br /><b> </b><b>20.06 The first volume of Baroness Thatcher's authorised biography will be published immediately after her funeral. </b><br /><b></b><b>Allen Lane, which is part of Penguin Books, said Monday that "Not for Turning" by Charles Moore, Telegraph columnist and former editor, was commissioned in 1997 on the understanding that it would not be published during the former British prime minister's lifetime. </b><br /><b></b><b>Moore was given full access to Thatcher's private papers and interviewed her extensively. The publisher said that Thatcher also supported requests for interviews with others, including those who worked most closely with her and her family. </b><br /><b></b><b>Permission was also granted to former and existing civil servants to speak freely about the Thatcher years. </b><br /><b> </b><b>20.03 The House of Lords has also been recalled on Wednesday, and will sit at 2.30pm, the same time as the Commons. The Government will put down a motion, which is expected to pay tribute to Lady Thatcher, according to the Speaker's Office. The Prime Minister is then expected to give a statement to the Commons, followed by the Leader of the Opposition. </b><br /><b></b><b>There will then be time for backbench MPs to make their own tributes to the former prime minister. </b><br /><b> </b><b>20.00 Lord Powell, a key foreign affairs adviser to Baroness Thatcher, said he spent an hour with her las night. </b><br /><b></b><b>Speaking to Channel 4 News he said: </b><br /><b></b><b><i><img align="left" alt="Quote" height="40" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01817/quotes_1817837a.gif" width="45" />I saw her last night, yes. </i></b><br /><b></b><b><i>I spent an hour or so with her and I am very pleased that I did. </i></b><br /><b></b><b><i>I think I would regard it as very private, I wouldn't want to talk about it.</i></b><br /><b> </b><b>19.55 The BBC has been criticised meanwhile after news presenters, including anchor Huw Edwards, failed to wear a black tie while fronting a special programme on her death. </b><br /><b></b><b>The corporation was heavily criticised when veteran newsreader Peter Sissons went on air in a grey suit and burgundy tie to report on the Queen Mother passing away in 2002.&nbsp;</b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I3RXRlaBfe4/UWMewNSZLQI/AAAAAAAABao/Yzeg1uKUhNo/s1600/Margaret-Thatcher-1818015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I3RXRlaBfe4/UWMewNSZLQI/AAAAAAAABao/Yzeg1uKUhNo/s320/Margaret-Thatcher-1818015.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><br /><br /><b>Margaret Thatcher was a divisive figure in life - and she is already dividing opinions after her death.</b><br /><b>Baroness Thatcher, who died this morning aged 87 after a stroke, has been granted a ceremonial funeral - one level down from a state funeral.</b><br /><b>She will be given a formal send-off equivalent in standing to Princess Diana and the Queen Mother, but requested before her death that she should not lie in state.</b><br /><b>She will be given a ceremonial funeral with military honours at St Paul's Cathedral.</b><br /><b>But after the announcement her critics hit back at the decision, with #nostatefuneral one of the top UK trends on Twitter and an e-petition quickly gaining thousands of signatures.</b><br /><b>Laura Goodman commented: "Surely the woman who privatised everything isn't going to get a publicly funded state funeral #nostatefuneral."</b><br /><b>Dai Rhys tweeted: "#nostatefuneral for the apartheid supporting, Pinochet loving, community destroying, war mongering, milk snatching Devil incarnate #Thatcher."</b><br /><b><br /></b><h1><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">&nbsp;</span></b></h1></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-79111364364179800302013-04-08T01:25:00.000-07:002013-04-08T01:28:26.549-07:00Red meat chemical 'damages heart', say US scientists<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h1 class="story-header" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: large;">Red meat chemical 'damages heart', say US scientists</span></h1><div><b><br /></b></div><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="byline"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<span style="color: #674ea7;">&nbsp;Health and science</span></b></span></span><span class="byline"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span class="byline"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7-fIITaIq1g/UWJ92VE_GnI/AAAAAAAABZw/zmBc90UdguE/s1600/rrr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7-fIITaIq1g/UWJ92VE_GnI/AAAAAAAABZw/zmBc90UdguE/s400/rrr.jpg" width="392" /></a></div><div><span class="byline"><b><span style="color: #b45f06;">A chemical found in red meat helps explain why eating too much steak, mince and bacon is bad for the heart, say US scientists.&nbsp;</span></b></span></div><div><span class="byline"><b><span style="color: #b45f06;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div><span class="byline"><b><span style="color: #b45f06;">A study in the journal Nature Medicine showed that carnitine in red meat was broken down by bacteria in the gut.<br /> This kicked off a chain of events which resulted in higher levels of cholesterol and an increased risk of heart disease.<br /> Dieticians warned there may be a risk to people taking carnitine supplements.<br /> There has been a wealth of studies suggesting that regularly eating red meat may be damaging to health.<br /> In the UK, the government recommends eating no more than 70g of red or processed meat a day - the equivalent of two slices of bacon.<br /> Saturated fat and the way processed meat is preserved are thought to contribute to heart problems. However, this was not thought to be the whole story.&nbsp;</span></b></span></div><div><span class="byline"><b><span style="color: #b45f06;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div><span class="byline"><b><span style="color: #b45f06;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j3BYF90YSkU/UWJ93LzxSAI/AAAAAAAABZ4/MWfkHgdbPl8/s1600/getty_rm_illustration_of_heart_attack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j3BYF90YSkU/UWJ93LzxSAI/AAAAAAAABZ4/MWfkHgdbPl8/s1600/getty_rm_illustration_of_heart_attack.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j3BYF90YSkU/UWJ93LzxSAI/AAAAAAAABZ4/MWfkHgdbPl8/s1600/getty_rm_illustration_of_heart_attack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">"The cholesterol and saturated fat content of lean red meat is not that high, there's something else contributing to increases in cardiovascular risk," lead researcher Dr Stanley Hazen told the BBC.</span></b></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><b><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span class="cross-head"><br /></span></span></b><b><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span class="cross-head"><br /></span></span></b><b><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span class="cross-head"><br /></span></span></b><b><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span class="cross-head">Gut bugs</span> </span></b><b><span style="color: #134f5c;">Experiments on mice and people showed that bacteria in the gut could eat carnitine.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #134f5c;">Carnitine was broken down into a gas, which was converted in the liver to a chemical called TMAO.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #134f5c;">In the study, TMAO was strongly linked with the build-up of fatty deposits in blood vessels, which can lead to heart disease and death.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #134f5c;">Dr Hazen, from the Cleveland Clinic, said TMAO was often ignored: "It may be a waste product but it is significantly influencing cholesterol metabolism and the net effect leads to an accumulation of cholesterol.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #134f5c;">"The findings support the idea that less red meat is better. </span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #134f5c;">"I used to have red meat five days out of seven, now I have cut it way back to less than once every two weeks or so."</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #134f5c;">He said the findings raised the idea of using a probiotic yogurt to change the balance of bacteria in the gut.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #134f5c;">Reducing the number of bacteria that feed on carnitine would in theory reduce the health risks of red meat. </span></b><br /><div><span class="byline"><b><span style="color: #134f5c;">Vegetarians naturally have fewer bacteria that are able to break down carnitine than meat-eaters.</span></b></span></div><div><span class="byline"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span class="byline"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span class="byline"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span class="byline"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><b><span style="color: #741b47;"><span class="byline">I would strongly recommend that unless you're a vegetarian or vegan, there is a potential risk from taking L-carnitine, lecithin, choline or betaine supplements in an attempt to ward off cognitive decline or improve fat metabolism ”................</span>Catherine Collins... &nbsp;Dietitian</span></b></div></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-39932683670860629792013-04-07T02:20:00.000-07:002013-04-07T02:21:47.527-07:00Facebook Home isn't where your privacy is<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Facebook Home isn't where your privacy is</span></b><b><br /></b><b><br /></b><br /><div class="cnet-image-div image-LARGE2 float-none" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; float: none; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin: 10px auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 610px;"><div class="image-caption" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.8em; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.133em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px;"><br /></b></div><div class="image-caption" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.8em; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.133em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px;"><span style="color: #a64d79;">When Mark Zuckerberg and friends debuted&nbsp;Facebook Home&nbsp;yesterday, they downplayed the ever-growing importance your data has for the company. While the Facebook-obsessed may love Home, chances are your privacy won't feel welcome at all.</span></b></div></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #a64d79;">Facebook has earned a reputation for developing new products and features that are respectful of user privacy, and then slowly, sometimes with great subtlety and sometimes with mastodon-like lumbering, walking those policies back to a decidedly less-respectful state.</span></b></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #a64d79;">There's little indication that&nbsp;Facebook Home&nbsp;will be any different. At the Facebook Home question-and-answer session that followed Thursday's announcement, Zuckerberg said, "Analytics are made anonymous and used for half a percent of the user base." He added that that's the same as Google and Apple, which sounds reasonable, right?</span></b></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RABQuo3rc3E/UWE5uOz-RDI/AAAAAAAABZc/Y88mlt2fTRw/s1600/fb+owner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><img border="0" height="225" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RABQuo3rc3E/UWE5uOz-RDI/AAAAAAAABZc/Y88mlt2fTRw/s400/fb+owner.jpg" width="400" /></b></a></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #f6b26b;">The catch is that the more you share on Facebook, the more Facebook learns about you, and Facebook Home is designed to make you want to share even more.</span></b></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #f6b26b;">Privacy and security researcher Ashkan Soltani agrees, and he explained that Facebook Home bridges the gap between passive data collection and active data-creating activities -- such as when you "Like" something in Facebook. "It's in the middle of every interaction on your device," he said.</span></b></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #f6b26b;">"The number of times that you interact with Facebook or a Facebook-related service goes up. The number of times that you voluntarily interact goes up. I don't believe they'll be logging who everybody is, but they will be logging the voluntary interaction, checking in, liking posts," Soltani said.</span></b></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #f6b26b;">He compared it to a "pornado," the whirlwind of illicit pop-up ads that would follow your mouse and plague Web sites before pop-up blockers were implemented. "Facebook Home will do that, where you'll always be on Facebook," he said.</span></b></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #f6b26b;">For its part, Facebook says there's not much daylight between using Facebook Home and using Facebook.com or your Facebook mobile app. Facebook Home is covered under the same&nbsp;data use policy&nbsp;as the rest of Facebook, and the company said in a blog post addressing&nbsp;data use and privacy concerns in Facebook Home&nbsp;that there's nothing unusual or new about which data it collects.</span></b></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><blockquote style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.247059) 0px 1px 1px inset; background-color: whitesmoke; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.247059) 0px 1px 1px inset; clear: both; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin: 20px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 20px; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #7f6000;">Like other parts of Facebook, Home collects information when you interact with the service, such as liking or commenting on a post or sending a message. Home also may collect other information about how you use it. For example, Facebook maintains a list of the apps that you have in the Home app launcher. We store this information in identifiable form for 90 days and use it to provide the service and improve how it works.</span></b><br /><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #7f6000;">For devices that come with Home pre-installed, Home can display system notifications, meaning that it will show notifications from apps on your phone. Since these notifications appear in Home, Facebook collects information about the notification (such as which app is generating them) but not the content of the notification itself. We remove identifying information from this data after 90 days.</span></b></div></blockquote><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">Once it launches next week, it'll be easy, initially, to not use Facebook Home. I expect that to change, even though the launcher and chat interface are initially limited to&nbsp;HTC First phones&nbsp;and people who download Facebook Home from Google Play and live in the U.S. The purpose of Home is to expand Facebook on&nbsp;Android&nbsp;to become a permanent, pervasive layer between you and your apps. Why would Facebook not want to push that?</span></b></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">Sarah Downey, a privacy expert at Abine, a startup that makes privacy-protective browser add-ons and offers privacy-protective services, said Zuckerberg's assurances are not good enough.</span></b></div><div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19.984375px; margin-top: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">"If the past is any indication, Facebook will expand their data sharing as time goes on and as the hype and scrutiny around the launch fades. They're deliberately underplaying the role data plays here, and there's a monetary incentive for Facebook to be with you everywhere you go," she cautioned.</span></b></div><br /><br /></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-59368210919455549422013-04-07T01:50:00.000-07:002013-04-07T01:50:08.902-07:00Teachers threaten boycott of controversial tests for six-year-olds <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h1 class="title"><span style="color: #38761d;">Teachers threaten boycott of controversial tests for six-year-olds</span></h1><h1 class="title"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7yzNUt-I2jE/UWEyu46g-hI/AAAAAAAABZM/8PiuD7BWs9Q/s1600/michael-gove.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7yzNUt-I2jE/UWEyu46g-hI/AAAAAAAABZM/8PiuD7BWs9Q/s1600/michael-gove.jpeg" /></a></h1><div class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-1024 inpage-widget-6138699 articleContent"><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span class="storyTop ">Teachers are threatening a boycott of controversial new tests for primary school children – claiming they will leave no time for subjects like art and drama in the school timetable.<br /> </span></span></b><div class="body "><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Delegates at the National Union of Teachers’ annual conference unanimously backed a move to organise a boycott of&nbsp; new reading tests for six-year-olds – which ask them to spell made up words to test their understanding of phonics – introduced for the first time next year.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">In addition, they also plan to boycott a new spelling, grammar and punctuation test for 11-year-olds being introduced for 600,000 11-year-olds for the first time this summer.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">In particular, teachers are incensed by Education Secretary Michael Gove’s insistence they should tell parents how their children have fared in the tests for six-year-olds, arguing it will cause educational damage ... to young learners by labelling them as failures”.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">The motion added the teachers “reject the idea that parents should be informed in writing that children have failed a test at the age of five or six”.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Joan Edwards, from Birmingham, told the conference the&nbsp; Government’s school proposals would create “a world without music, without art, without creativity”. “That’s what Gove wants,” she added. “We as teachers want to develop a more broad and balanced curriculum education for our children.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">“We want children to develop a love of reading and writings – but SATs&nbsp; and synthetic phonics tests need to be eradicated for this.”</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">She urged Mr Gove to study the education systems of other European countries where children started formal schooling at the age of seven not five as in the UK.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">As the debate continued, a number of teachers in the hall started chanting “Gove must go”.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Jane Nellist, from Coventry, added: “If we know that this curriculum is not going to be appropriate and is going to stifle creativity and learning and damage the life chances of our young people, then we have a responsibility to our communities to fight it.”</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Philip Griffin, from Wokingham, argued: “We’re not saying grammar isn’t important, spelling isn't important, punctuation isn’t important but this test is not important.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">“What is important is our children write cohesive, coherent and sensible English.”</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">The union will now hold talks with other teachers’ organisations with a view to boycotting the tests next year.&nbsp; The National Association of Head Teachers, which has a large primary school membership, in particular, has voiced concern over the tests.</span></b><br /><b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT, said:&nbsp; “Teachers really do feel passionately about Michael Gove’s changes to the primary school curriculum.</span></b><br /> </div></div><h1 class="title"><span style="color: #b45f06;">“The hoops that young children will have to jump through will leave children feeling a failure.”&nbsp;</span></h1></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-66472940084547862652013-04-06T07:02:00.000-07:002013-04-06T07:05:18.865-07:00Chaos over biggest employment tax shake-up in 70 years<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h1><span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Chaos over biggest employment tax shake-up in Seventy years</span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gXw2EVp9PWo/UWAqCojLxrI/AAAAAAAABYo/9u6Fo7DLKdA/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gXw2EVp9PWo/UWAqCojLxrI/AAAAAAAABYo/9u6Fo7DLKdA/s400/images.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><h2><span style="color: #a64d79;">Businesses and families are heading into a “nightmare” today, amid fears that the biggest employment tax shake-up in 70 years will ensnare companies in red tape.</span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IxmWQ2oBB6E/UWAqENI7OWI/AAAAAAAABY4/NYZVs5QaMJQ/s1600/uk-tax.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IxmWQ2oBB6E/UWAqENI7OWI/AAAAAAAABY4/NYZVs5QaMJQ/s320/uk-tax.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="firstPar"><span style="color: #0b5394;">&nbsp;Accountants said that many businesses are “completely unprepared” for a wave of bureaucracy coming into force tomorrow when employers will have to report Pay As You Earn (PAYE) information in “real time”. </span></div><div class="secondPar"><span style="color: #0b5394;">They also warned that HM Revenue &amp; Customs may not be able to cope as thousands of its staff are going on strike this Monday and its computer systems have been undergoing “essential maintenance” for the past few days. </span></div><div class="thirdPar"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Under the new Real Time Information (RTI) system, more than a million businesses — as well as charities, churches and families who employ nannies or cleaners —must report immediately any wage payments to the taxman. </span></div><h2><span style="color: #cc0000;">Small businesses have a six-month grace period in which they can report once a month, but they will still have to get to grips with complicated new rules and computer software before complying fully in October</span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RPN7mGTO2Wk/UWAqDGFesgI/AAAAAAAABYw/C4mM3e1O9eo/s1600/images7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><img border="0" height="263" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RPN7mGTO2Wk/UWAqDGFesgI/AAAAAAAABYw/C4mM3e1O9eo/s400/images7.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><h2><span style="color: #741b47;">" The changes come despite David Cameron’s promise to “cut back on excessive rules” to help “unleash our small businesses”.</span></h2><div class="oneHalf gutter"><div class="story"><div id="mainBodyArea"><div class="body"><span style="color: #0b5394;">The new system is the foundation of the Coalition’s universal benefit welfare reform, because it will allow officials to adjust handouts immediately when their earnings change. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">Last night a number of experts warned of impending disaster. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">The Chartered Institute of Taxation said that many small businesses were thinking of folding because the system is the last straw in a long line of excessive bureaucracy from the taxman. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">It described the RTI as a possible “route to insolvency”. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">In a further warning to the Government, Dr Adam Marshall, a director of the British Chambers of Commerce, described RTI as a “massive change to the way that businesses operate across the UK” that may distract them from generating wealth and breaking into new markets. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">He urged HMRC not to “underestimate the potential for problems” over the next few months as firms get to grips with the rules. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">Among the problems facing the new system is the planned strike of up to 55,000 officials at HMRC, including call centre staff. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">The PCS union has targeted the industrial action to upset the start of RTI and the beginning of the tax year. Meanwhile, the HMRC internet “gateway” for workers to access and report their tax information has been under maintenance. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">Darren Fell, the managing director of Crunch Accountants, said the system is heading into a “disaster zone” over the weekend and early next week, because there will be a backlog of people trying to use the website as the changes come into force. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">“Chaos is what we’re expecting,” he said. “It’s going to have to be the most amazing system in the universe to cope with it without falling apart.” </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">Some employers are also complaining that the free HMRC software that they must use on their own computers to submit information to the system has been crashing during its pilot stages. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">Others say that the new requirements are so complicated that they will have to seek professional help or invest in expensive software, rather than use the free HMRC version. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">Chris Mugford, the managing director of The Web TV Company, which produces online videos, has had to employ a bookkeeper for a company of only two people because of the changes. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">Many employers are unaware of the changes, even though they are meant to have received a letter from the taxman. One survey estimates that one in five businesses is unprepared, while the Association of Accounting Technicians found that one in three small businesses is in the dark. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">Baker Tilly, a firm of accountants, said one message from HMRC about further changes was written in “gobbledegook”. </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sbNYpwSn-pM/UWArY81iVeI/AAAAAAAABY8/zwz-m_Pi7EU/s1600/poundcoins1867.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sbNYpwSn-pM/UWArY81iVeI/AAAAAAAABY8/zwz-m_Pi7EU/s400/poundcoins1867.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="color: #0b5394;">The scheme has had unintended consequences for many groups that make payments, including pension funds.</span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">Up to 25,000 pensioners with the John Lewis Partnership scheme are losing a month of pension, as their managers told them they must switch from paying at the beginning to the end of the month. It has had to offer its members loans to tide them over. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">Companies have been told they do not face fines for late reporting for another year, but they could still be hit with penalties for submitting inaccurate data about their employees. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">Tina Riches, an expert at the Chartered Institute of Taxation, questioned whether it was “workable” to make every employer report real-time pay information until October when they will all be subject to the same stricter rules. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">“We are hoping they will extend it [the grace period] because we’ve heard of quite a lot of cases of smaller businesses thinking of packing up as it’s just the last straw,” she said. “It’s mainly ones that have odd hours that are just paid when they finish their work, particularly in the pub and hospitality trade. It’s potentially a lot of extra work for them.” </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">She said many employers still might not know that they should be complying with the new requirements from today. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">“It could be a church that employs a cleaner and an organist,” she said. “Anybody that employs somebody under PAYE in their own home, such as a gardener, a cleaner or a nanny.” </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">Last night, Christopher Millington-Hore, who runs a family firm of accountants, said small business owners were facing an administrative “nightmare”. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">Robin Worsnop, chief executive of Rabbie’s Small Group Tours, a tour company, said the new requirements will “add another layer of stress” on payroll day. </span><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">HMRC last night said that customers have reported no problems with downloading its software. A spokesman said HMRC believes 85 per cent of businesses are aware of the RTI changes, after an advertising campaign and two letters to all employers. It said the website maintenance should not affect businesses trying to submit RTI information.</span></div></div></div></div></div></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-82274102059176226442013-04-06T06:21:00.000-07:002013-04-06T06:22:59.386-07:00US plays down North Korea threat<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h1 class="story-header"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;US plays down North Korea threat</span></h1><div><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><b>US officials have played down the threat of war on the Korean peninsula, after weeks of bellicose statements from Pyongyang.</b><br /><b><br /></b><b><br /></b></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M1qlGdb8c9w/UWAg1gPpU8I/AAAAAAAABYM/L_zF_2gzdBU/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M1qlGdb8c9w/UWAg1gPpU8I/AAAAAAAABYM/L_zF_2gzdBU/s400/images.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Add caption</td></tr></tbody></table><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A White House spokesman said the US "would not be surprised" if North Korea launched a missile, while a top US military officer said recent threats appeared to fit a familiar pattern.</b></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Pyongyang has threatened to attack both US and South Korean targets.</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>It has told foreign embassies it cannot guarantee their safety in a conflict. </b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Diplomats in Pyongyang were asked on Friday to tell the foreign ministry by 10 April what help they would need in evacuating. </b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The warning prompted Russia to ask whether Pyongyang was offering help in the event of a conflict, or making a decision.</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>South Korean media reported on Friday that the North had moved two intermediate range missiles into position on the east coast.</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The missiles are untested but it is believed they could reach as far as the Pacific Island of Guam, where the US has a military base, and where it has confirmed it will deploy a missile defence system. </b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, said two warships equipped with Aegis defence systems would monitor the situation.</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span class="cross-head">'Reckless'</span> </b></span><br /><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>North Korea has issued a series of unusually strong threats since it was sanctioned by the UN in March for having carried out a third nuclear test.</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-riPdtexAhQU/UWAg1mFXWaI/AAAAAAAABYY/bnqSibk-6bg/s1600/_45830537_korea_missile_maxrange_466.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-riPdtexAhQU/UWAg1mFXWaI/AAAAAAAABYY/bnqSibk-6bg/s1600/_45830537_korea_missile_maxrange_466.gif" /></a></div><div><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It has threatened nuclear strikes on the US, formally declared war on the South, and pledged to reopen a nuclear reactor in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.</b></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Friday a missile launch would not be unexpected.</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>"We would not be surprised to see them take such an action,'' he said. "We have seen them launch missiles in the past.''</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Seoul has also played down the North's reported missile move, saying it may be planning a test rather than a hostile act. </b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the North's nuclear threat "reckless", but said it seemed to fit a decades-long pattern of escalation followed by accommodation. </b></span><br /><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>"I wouldn't say I see anything to lead me to believe that this is a different kind of cycle,'' he told the Associated Press news agency.</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even so, Gen Dempsey said the cycle was more unpredictable because relatively little was known about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who came to power after his father's death in December 2011.</b></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>"Though we've always said that North Korea has been a bit opaque to us, in the past we've understood their leadership and the influencers a little better than we do today," he said.</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Many of North Korea's angry statements have cited the annual military exercises between US and South Korean forces as provocation.</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The US flew nuclear-capable B2 and B52 bombers over the South as part of the drill, and has since deployed warships with missile defence systems to the region.</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Gen Dempsey said US moves had been "largely defensive and exclusively intended to reassure our allies".</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The BBC's Lucy Williamson reports from Seoul that the heightened atmosphere could make any action riskier for North Korea. </b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>With military communication lines cut, even an unarmed test-flight of its rockets could be misconstrued, and any glitch in flight path or target could lead to a major escalation, she adds.</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>North Korea has not taken direct military action since 2010, when it shelled a South Korean island and killed four people.</b></span><br /><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Despite its warning that it could not guarantee the safety of foreign embassies, both Russia and the UK said they had no immediate plans to evacuate their embassies in Pyongyang.&nbsp;</b></span></div></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-38825987428448278372013-04-05T12:49:00.001-07:002013-04-05T12:49:01.941-07:00IPL MATCH 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;"></div><h3><br /></h3><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: x-large;"><u>IPL MATCH 2013</u></span></h2><h3 style="text-align: center;"><br /></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mOWZ3DlI2qg/UV8pzx5R8hI/AAAAAAAABXU/-cJ5bwVffGI/s1600/IPL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mOWZ3DlI2qg/UV8pzx5R8hI/AAAAAAAABXU/-cJ5bwVffGI/s400/IPL.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><h3><br /></h3><h3>Date and Time<br />Match Details and Series<br />Wed Apr 3<br />1st IPL - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils<br /><br />Eden Gardens, Kolkata<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Thu Apr 4<br />2nd IPL - Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians<br /><br />M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Fri Apr 5<br />3rd IPL - Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Pune Warriors<br /><br />Rajiv Gandhi Int. Stadium, Hyderabad<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Sat Apr 6<br />4th IPL - Delhi Daredevils vs Rajasthan Royals<br /><br />Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Sat Apr 6<br />5th IPL - Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians<br /><br />MA Chidambaram Stadium - Chepauk, Chennai<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Sun Apr 7<br />6th IPL - Pune Warriors vs Kings XI Punjab<br /><br />Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Sun Apr 7<br />7th IPL - Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bangalore<br /><br />Rajiv Gandhi Int. Stadium, Hyderabad<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Mon Apr 8<br />8th IPL - Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders<br /><br />Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur<br /><br />M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Thu Apr 11<br />12th IPL - Pune Warriors vs Rajasthan Royals<br /><br />Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Fri Apr 12<br />13th IPL - Delhi Daredevils vs Sunrisers Hyderabad<br /><br />Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Sat Apr 13<br />14th IPL - Mumbai Indians vs Pune Warriors<br /><br />Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Sat Apr 13<br />15th IPL - Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore<br /><br />MA Chidambaram Stadium - Chepauk, Chennai<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Sun Apr 14<br />16th IPL - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Pune Warriors<br /><br />Eden Gardens, Kolkata<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Sun Apr 14<br />17th IPL - Rajasthan Royals vs Kings XI Punjab<br /><br />Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Mon Apr 15<br />18th IPL - Chennai Super Kings vs Pune Warriors<br /><br />MA Chidambaram Stadium - Chepauk, Chennai<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Tue Apr 16<br />19th IPL - Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders<br /><br />Punjab C.A. Stadium, Mohali<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Tue Apr 16<br />20th IPL - Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Delhi Daredevils<br /><br />M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Wed Apr 17<br />21st IPL - Pune Warriors vs Sunrisers Hyderabad<br /><br />Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune</h3><h3><br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Wed Apr 17<br />22nd IPL - Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians<br /><br />Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Thu Apr 18<br />23rd IPL - Delhi Daredevils vs Chennai Super Kings<br /><br />Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Fri Apr 19<br />24th IPL - Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kings XI Punjab<br /><br />Rajiv Gandhi Int. Stadium, Hyderabad<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Sat Apr 20<br />25th IPL - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings<br /><br />Eden Gardens, Kolkata<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Sat Apr 20<br />26th IPL - Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals<br /><br />M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Sun Apr 21<br />27th IPL - Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians<br /><br />Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Sun Apr 21<br />28th IPL - Kings XI Punjab vs Pune Warriors<br /><br />Punjab C.A. Stadium, Mohali<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Mon Apr 22<br />29th IPL - Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals<br /><br />MA Chidambaram Stadium - Chepauk, Chennai<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Tue Apr 23<br />30th IPL - Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Pune Warriors<br /><br />M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Tue Apr 23<br />31st IPL - Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils<br /><br />Punjab C.A. Stadium, Mohali<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Wed Apr 24<br />32nd IPL - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians<br /><br />Eden Gardens, Kolkata<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Thu Apr 25<br />33rd IPL - Chennai Super Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad<br /><br />MA Chidambaram Stadium - Chepauk, Chennai<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Fri Apr 26<br />34th IPL - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab<br /><br />Eden Gardens, Kolkata<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Sat Apr 27<br />35th IPL - Rajasthan Royals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad<br /><br />Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Sat Apr 27<br />36th IPL - Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore<br /><br />Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Sun Apr 28<br />37th IPL - Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders<br /><br />MA Chidambaram Stadium - Chepauk, Chennai<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Sun Apr 28<br />38th IPL - Delhi Daredevils vs Pune Warriors<br /><br />International Cricket Stadium, Raipur<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Mon Apr 29<br />39th IPL - Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore<br /><br />Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Mon Apr 29<br />40th IPL - Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab<br /><br />Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Tue Apr 30<br />41st IPL - Pune Warriors vs Chennai Super Kings<br /><br />Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Wed May 1<br />42nd IPL - Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Mumbai Indians<br /><br />Rajiv Gandhi Int. Stadium, Hyderabad<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Wed May 1<br />43rd IPL - Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders<br /><br />International Cricket Stadium, Raipur<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Thu May 2<br />44th IPL - Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab<br /><br />MA Chidambaram Stadium - Chepauk, Chennai<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Thu May 2<br />45th IPL - Pune Warriors vs Royal Challengers Bangalore<br /><br />Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Fri May 3<br />46th IPL - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals<br /><br />Eden Gardens, Kolkata<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Sat May 4<br />47th IPL - Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Delhi Daredevils<br /><br />Rajiv Gandhi Int. Stadium, Hyderabad<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Sat May 4<br />48th IPL - Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kings XI Punjab<br /><br />M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Sun May 5<br />49th IPL - Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings<br /><br />Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Sun May 5<br />50th IPL - Rajasthan Royals vs Pune Warriors<br /><br />Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Mon May 6<br />51st IPL - Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Sunrisers Hyderabad<br /><br />M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Tue May 7<br />52nd IPL - Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils<br /><br />Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Tue May 7<br />53rd IPL - Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders<br /><br />Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Wed May 8<br />54th IPL - Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Chennai Super Kings<br /><br />Rajiv Gandhi Int. Stadium, Hyderabad<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Thu May 9<br />55th IPL - Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals<br /><br />Punjab C.A. Stadium, Mohali<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Thu May 9<br />56th IPL - Pune Warriors vs Kolkata Knight Riders<br /><br />Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Fri May 10<br />57th IPL - Delhi Daredevils vs Royal Challengers Bangalore<br /><br />Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Sat May 11<br />58th IPL - Pune Warriors vs Mumbai Indians<br /><br />Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Sat May 11<br />59th IPL - Kings XI Punjab vs Sunrisers Hyderabad<br /><br />Punjab C.A. Stadium, Mohali<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Sun May 12<br />60th IPL - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore<br /><br />JSCA International Cricket Stadium, Ranchi<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Sun May 12<br />61st IPL - Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings<br /><br />Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Mon May 13<br />62nd IPL - Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab<br /><br />Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Mon May 13<br />63rd IPL - Mumbai Indians vs Sunrisers Hyderabad<br /><br />Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Tue May 14<br />64th IPL - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Pune Warriors<br /><br />JSCA International Cricket Stadium, Ranchi<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Wed May 15<br />65th IPL - Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils<br /><br />Fri May 24<br />Qualifier 2 IPL - TBC vs TBC (Winner of Eliminator vs Loser of Qualifer 1)<br /><br />Eden Gardens, Kolkata<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Sun May 26<br />Final IPL - TBC vs TBC (Winner of Q1 vs Winner of Q2)<br /><br /><br />MA Chidambaram Stadium - Chepauk, Chennai<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Wed May 15<br />66th IPL - Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals<br /><br />Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Thu May 16<br />67th IPL - Kings XI Punjab vs Royal Challengers Bangalore<br /><br />HPCA Stadium, Dharmasala<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Fri May 17<br />68th IPL - Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals<br /><br />Rajiv Gandhi Int. Stadium, Hyderabad<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Sat May 18<br />69th IPL - Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians<br /><br />HPCA Stadium, Dharmasala<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Sat May 18<br />70th IPL - Pune Warriors vs Delhi Daredevils<br /><br />Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Sun May 19<br />71st IPL - Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings<br /><br />M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore<br />16:00 local | 10:30 GMT<br /><br />Sun May 19<br />72nd IPL - Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders<br /><br />Rajiv Gandhi Int. Stadium, Hyderabad<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Tue May 21<br />Qualifier 1 IPL - TBC vs TBC (1st Placed Team vs 2nd Placed Team)<br /><br />MA Chidambaram Stadium - Chepauk, Chennai<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />Wed May 22<br />Eliminator IPL - TBC vs TBC (3rd Placed Team vs 4th Placed Team)<br /><br />MA Chidambaram Stadium - Chepauk, Chennai<br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br />20:00 local | 14:30 GMT<br /><br /><br />&nbsp;</h3><br /></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-60795306801017396232013-04-03T13:52:00.000-07:002013-04-03T13:56:44.188-07:00The health benefits of eucalyptus <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;"></div><h3></h3><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #741b47; font-size: x-large;"><u>The health benefits of eucalyptus&nbsp;</u></span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IyoWBO-M2so/UVyViQSUVqI/AAAAAAAABW0/kgtg6oCk8QA/s1600/EUCALYPTUS+LEAF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IyoWBO-M2so/UVyViQSUVqI/AAAAAAAABW0/kgtg6oCk8QA/s320/EUCALYPTUS+LEAF.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><span style="color: #741b47; font-size: x-large;"><u><br /></u></span></div><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Respiratory problems</span><span style="color: #7f6000;">:</span></span></strong><span style="color: #7f6000;">&nbsp;Eucalyptus essential oil is effective for treating a number of respiratory problems including cold, cough,&nbsp;running&nbsp;nose, sore throat,&nbsp;asthma, nasal congestion,&nbsp;bronchitis&nbsp;and sinusitis. Eucalyptus oil is antibacterial, antifungal, antimicrobial, antiviral, anti inflammatory and decongestant in nature which makes it a good ingredient for many medicines for treating respiratory problems. A study published in&nbsp;Laryngoscope&nbsp;in 2004 shows its usefulness in treating non-bacterial sinusitis. Patients suffering from non-bacterial sinusitis showed faster improvement when given medicines containing eucalyptus oil. Gargles of eucalyptus oil mixed with warm&nbsp;water&nbsp;are effective on treating sore throat.</span></h3><h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="color: #cc0000;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Wounds:</span></strong>&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #7f6000;">Eucalyptus essential oil is a good antiseptic owing to its germicidal properties. On its exposure to air, ozone is formed which is a well-known antiseptic. Hence eucalyptus oil is used for healing&nbsp;wounds, ulcers,&nbsp;burns, cuts,&nbsp;abrasions&nbsp;and sores. It is also effective on insect bites and stings.</span></div></span></h3><h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="color: #cc0000;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Muscle pain</strong>:</span> </span><span style="color: #7f6000;">During muscle and joint pains, massaging eucalyptus oil on the skin surface helps in getting relief from the pain. The volatile eucalyptus oil is analgesic and anti inflammatory in nature. Therefore it is often recommended to patients suffering from rheumatism, lumbago, sprained ligaments and tendons, stiff muscles, aches, fibrosis and even nerve pain. The oil is&nbsp;massage&nbsp;in circular motion on affected areas</span></div></span></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B1aMM3yv3O0/UVyVqeIREiI/AAAAAAAABW8/MCpQSLWOCcs/s1600/EUCALYPTUS+OIL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B1aMM3yv3O0/UVyVqeIREiI/AAAAAAAABW8/MCpQSLWOCcs/s320/EUCALYPTUS+OIL.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><strong><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Mental exhaustion:</span></strong><span style="color: #7f6000;">&nbsp;An important reason why people like using eucalyptus oil is that it provides a cooling and refreshing effect. Normally people suffering from any disorder are down. Eucalyptus oil, which is stimulating, removes exhaustion and mental sluggishness and rejuvenates the spirits of the sick. It is also effective in treating stress and mental disorders.</span></div></strong></h3><h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><strong><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Dental care</span><span style="color: #7f6000;">:</span></span></strong><span style="color: #7f6000;">&nbsp;Eucalyptus essential oil is very effective against cavities, dental plaques, gingivitis and other dental infections due to its germicidal properties.</span></div></strong></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Skin care</span><span style="color: #7f6000;">:</span></span></strong><span style="color: #7f6000;">&nbsp;Eucalyptus oil is often applied topically to treat skin infections.</span></h3><h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Diabetes</span><span style="color: #7f6000;">:</span></span></strong><span style="color: #7f6000;">&nbsp;Eucalyptus oil when taken internally controls blood sugar.</span></div><strong style="color: #7f6000;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Fever:</strong><span style="color: #7f6000;">&nbsp;It is also used for treating&nbsp;fever&nbsp;and reducing the body temperature. Therefore it is also called&nbsp;fever&nbsp;oil.</span></div></strong><strong style="color: #7f6000;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Intestinal germs:</strong><span style="color: #7f6000;">&nbsp;Eucalyptus oil is a vermifuge and hence is used to remove germs in the intestine.</span></div></strong></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Room freshener:</span></strong><span style="color: #7f6000;">&nbsp;The antiseptic and deodorant nature of eucalyptus oil makes it a perfect room freshener for hospitals and sickbed atmosphere. It also kills bacteria and germs in the air and hence keeps the room environment clean.</span></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Soaps</span><span style="color: #7f6000;">:</span></span></strong><span style="color: #7f6000;">&nbsp;Eucalyptus oil has applications in soaps, detergents and household cleaners as well.</span></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Mouth wash:</span></strong><span style="color: #7f6000;">&nbsp;As mentioned above, the oil is a prime ingredient in many mouthwashes and toothpastes.</span></h3><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Sauna</span><span style="color: #7f6000;">:</span></span></strong><span style="color: #7f6000;">&nbsp;Many people add eucalyptus oil to baths, spas and saunas due to its refreshing and antiseptic effect.</span></h3><h3><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #7f6000;">Usage of eucalyptus oil in aromatherapy is increasing gradually as it also blends well with many otheressential oils&nbsp;including&nbsp;thyme essential oil,&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: inherit;"><a href="http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/natural-essential-oils/health-benefits-of-rosemary-oil.html" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Health Benefits Of Rosemary Oil"></a></span></span><span style="color: #7f6000;">rosemary&nbsp;essential oil,&nbsp;marjoram essential oil,&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #7f6000; font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: inherit;"><a href="http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/natural-essential-oils/health-benefits-of-lavender-essential-oil.html" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Health Benefits Of Lavender Oil"></a></span></span><span style="color: #7f6000;">lavender&nbsp;essential oil,&nbsp;cedarwood&nbsp;essential oil,&nbsp;frankincense&nbsp;essential oil, etc.</span></div><span style="color: #7f6000;"><div style="text-align: justify;">One should take care while using eucalyptus oil. If taken in large quantities, eucalyptus oil is toxic. It may also interfere with homeopathic treatments.</div></span></h3></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7258286877240049929.post-82292181096779330222013-04-03T13:36:00.000-07:002013-04-03T13:36:30.085-07:00ZINDA TILISMATH A MEDICINE FOR ALL DISEASES<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: x-large;"><u>ZINDA TILISMATH A MEDICINE FOR ALL</u></span></span></h2><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: x-large;"><u>DISEASES</u></span></span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bKliQJClGJo/UVyR3yR_y5I/AAAAAAAABWs/NGSkarxaHZU/s1600/zinda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bKliQJClGJo/UVyR3yR_y5I/AAAAAAAABWs/NGSkarxaHZU/s320/zinda.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 17.98611068725586px;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: x-large;"><u><br /></u></span></span></div><h2 style="text-align: center;"><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></b></h2><h2 style="text-align: center;"><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: x-large;"><u>Internal Use:</u></span></b></h2><h3><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">COUGH COLD AND&nbsp;</span></span></b></h3><h3><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">CORYZA :</span></span></b></h3><h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #7f6000; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Rub 4 drops on the neck, nose and also chest twice a day, morning and evening. It will also help if 4 drops are added to betel leaves or tea or coffee and consumed</span></h3><h3><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;">THROAT TROUBLE</span></b></h3><h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #7f6000; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Such as Tonsillitis, Hard Breathing difficulty in swallowing-Add 12 drops in two to three glasses of boiling water and inhale the vapour through mouth. Also paint the inside throat with swab dipped in ZINDA TILISMATH. Repeat till relif.</span></h3><h3><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;">STOMACH TROUBLES</span></b></h3><h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #7f6000; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">(Indigestion, Constipation, Flatulence, Loud Eructation and Loose Motions) Take 8 drops of “ZINDA TILISMATH” mixed with 1 oz water.</span></h3><h3><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #4c1130;">DYSENTERY</span></span></b></h3><h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #7f6000; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Mix 8 drops with 10 grams of butter or 50 grams of curd and take twice, morning and evening on empty stomach till motions stop. Diet with barley water.</span></h3><h3><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;">MALARIA</span></b></h3><h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #7f6000; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Fever followed by shivering Mix 8 drops with 1 oz. of water and take three times a day.</span></h3><h3><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;">CHOLERA</span></b></h3><h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #7f6000; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Mix 8 drops with plain or soda water and take every 15 minutes till relief. During treatment take only Ganji or Sabudana.</span></h3><h3><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;">BREATHING TROUBLE OF CHILDREN</span></b></h3><h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #7f6000; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Mix 2 drops with Mother’s Milk and feed the child. Also rub the chest of the child with 6 drops and foment with warm cloth. Repeat till relief. The above dosage is for children below 3 years.</span></h3><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #7f6000; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: center;"><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: x-large;"><u>EXTERNAL USE</u></span></b></h3><h3><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></b><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;">HEADACHE</span></b></h3><h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #7f6000; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Rub on the forehead 6 drops. If necessary repeat after two hours.</span></h3><h3><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;">TOOTHACHE</span></b></h3><h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #7f6000; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Apply cotton swab soaked in “ZINDA TILISMATH” to the affected part of the gum every two hours till pain subsides.</span></h3><h3><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;">EAR TROUBLE</span></b></h3><h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #7f6000; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Wash the affected ear with warm water and put 4 drops mixed with LUKEWARM coconut oil and plug with cotton.</span></h3><h3><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;">PAINS</span></b></h3><h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #7f6000; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">In any part of the body viz hands, feet, back, knees etc. Rub on the effected part and foment with an equal quantity of kerosene oil and rub slowly twice a day morning and evening foment with warm cloth bandage.</span></h3><h3><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;">SCORPION STING</span></b></h3><h3><span style="background-color: white; color: #7f6000; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Rub 4 drops on the part stung and apply heat from embers. Repeat till relief.</span></h3><h3><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: large;">NOTE: Zinda Tilismath can be used during pregnancy also.</span></span></h3><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"></b></div>Junia Kannurihttps://plus.google.com/114668492033615265877noreply@blogger.com0